While The Village prides itself on its 138 issues and counting, we can only marvel in awe at the achievement of The Worcester-Birmingham & Droitwich Canals Society.
This group of volunteers, which first met in an Alvechurch pub in 1969, will next month be publishing issue 500 of their own magazine, 58.
Named after the number of locks that take the canal from the Birmingham plateau down the Tardebigge Flight and to the Severn, the March issue is billed as a special edition “bringing us forward to where we are today: a very vibrant and responsive canal society”.
The society was first formed as the Worcester/Birmingham Canal Society, with the Droitwich Canals being derelict at the time and no Droitwich Canals Trust.
The first meeting took place at The Crown Inn, Withybed Green, Alvechurch, and the first edition of 58 (right) came out in April 1969.
These days, the society meets every first Tuesday of the month, except in July and August when walks or visits are arranged. Meetings take place in the meeting room at the Alvechurch Boat Centre when all are welcome to come along whether members or not. The Weighbridge Pub is but a few steps away.
The society also gets involved in many other activities, including helping the Canal and River Trust with a public open day at the Tardebigge top lock – 58 – last month, as show above (picture by Ron Byrne).
Hundreds of people descended on the canal for the chance to climb into the deepest narrow lock in the country, which had been drained for maintenance work.