MORE than 20 hardy souls braved the cold waters of the Grand Union Canal on Sunday to try their hands at canoeing during the Thames21 charity's family fun day in Hayes.
Organiser Billy Coburn was pleased with the turnout. He said: "We had people aged from four to 40 having a go in the canoes and clearly enjoying themselves - and no one fell in which was a relief!
"We also had more than 60 people boarding the West London Floating Classroom which was taking people on trips up and down the canal and acting as a gallery for the very high quality entries we had for our local photographic competition."
The winning photo (above), which was taken by Jenny Dowsett, showed both sides of the canal - open country to the left and an industrial site to the right - with the West London Floating Classroom itself taking centre stage. Ms Dowsett won a £50 Amazon voucher for her effort.
Mr Coburn, who plans to organise other events along the canal in the coming months, was also able to sign up more than 20 volunteers interested in helping to improve the canalside facilities by litter-picking and other community activities.
For further information about Thames21, visit www.thames21.org.uk .
