Work on the Town Water to reinforce the banks against the onslaught of the Wye and to create some new swims for members and day ticket anglers alike is going on apace during the close season.

The work is being carried out by a woven living willow specialist Dave Jackson. Dave is a noted expert in the field of using live willow to reinforce riverbanks to try to alleviate erosion by flooding and if action is not taken the Riverside Park might disappear in not too many years.

The new platforms should be completed by the start of the new coarse season when there will be oak steps and platforms to get anglers down the the River. The River height is ideal for this sort of work at the moment. Members who visit the Park as I do to walk the dog or to check out the River will have seen that the previous platform by the lifebelt stand has collapsed into the River. Work on this bank has always been a rolling necessity. If we have a dry summer and things are shaping up that way we may have to water the willow to keep it alive. You can see from the photos the new growth on the branches.