DOZENS of volunteers from across Britain are working to restore a canal lock at Brimscombe.

Teams from the Waterways Recovery Group are repairing the brick walls of the 70ft lock on the Thames and Severn Canal as part of the regeneration project.

Camp leader Chris Blaxland, 46, from Devon, said: "It is really good fun to get involved in the canal regeneration project.

"The leaders have reached the point where the momentum has started to build so they can attract big money and the area will start to see the benefits."

The lock at Gough’s Orchard, built during the 1780s, was filled in after that length of canal was decommissioned in 1933.

Contractors funded by Stroud District Council excavated about 2,000 tonnes of silt to expose the lock in July.

The first of 60 volunteers from the Waterways Recovery Group, a charity dedicated to restoring Britain’s derelict canals, started a month-long project to repair the brick side walls on Sunday, July 26.

Team members, who included some students on the Duke of Edinburgh Award, came from places including Hampshire, Manchester and Solihull.

The first teams rolled back the coping stones and removed the top six feet of wall where the mortar had been damaged by water, frost and tree roots.

This week another group started to rebuild the wall, mostly using the recovered bricks.

Stroud District Council supervised the work and paid for the bricks and mortar, while the visit was organised by the Cotswold Canals Trust.