A NEW canal bridge in Shrivenham is nearing completion after eight years of hard graft.

Volunteers from the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust have spent the best part of a decade working to replace a historic bridge near Station Road.

A 40ft bridge was originally built in the same place in 1806 for use as a bridleway, but was destroyed in the 1950s by council workers as it was deemed unsafe. The volunteers now hope to have a £20,000 replacement in place by Easter next year.

Alan Norris, chairman of the West Vale branch of the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust, said he thought the completed bridge would be a great achievement for the local community.

The grandfather-of-four, 66, of Station Road, said: “The bridge has a huge following here and a lot of people are interested by its progress. There might not be much left to do but it will take us at least a year.

“You can’t do all the work at once – it has to be a sequence of work carried out in different stages.”

Organisations including Thames Water and the Waterways Association have contributed funds towards the £20,000 cost of the project.

Tens of thousands of specialist engineering red bricks have been used to help make the new structure look as similar to the original bridge as possible.

Alan said: “We’ve got the cash and the volunteers and time will now do the rest. We wanted to restore the bridge as close as we could to how it used to be.”

Progress has been slowed by losing 18 months of construction time because of the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001.

A number of other weather issues, including snow, further delayed proceedings.

The new bridge has been designed for pedestrians and horseriders, but will be wide enough for a vehicle to pass over it.

The bridge’s slope has also been designed to ensure disabled people will be able to use it.

For more information about the project, please visit www.wilts-berks-canal.org.uk