Volunteering in partnership

Volunteering in partnership is all about making a real difference to your community, changing lives and having fun too. Could you join the 300 organisations who partner with us every year?

Adoptions

Adopting your own stretch of waterway can mean signing up for simple tasks like regular litter picks or creating a new green space for your whole community to enjoy.

Adoption Agreements are a partnership with organisations of many differing types: residents associations, parish councils, sports clubs, health support services and many more.

Finding your perfect fit

We'll help you figure out the perfect way to adopt, and give you the support you need along the way. We welcome all sorts of small and large organisations, we just ask that you are an affiliated group (for example a parish council or canal society) with a minimum of six people to volunteer.

Our three adoption types: 

  • Community adoption
    Groups are asked to adopt one mile or more for a year and to volunteer at least once a month. This type of adoption best suits groups with more experience that are able to lead and manage their own activities.

  • Helping hands adoption
    Great for groups that fancy adopting a smaller area and might need a bit of help getting going. We ask these groups to volunteer about once a month for a year.

  • Pocket adoption
    This is the mini adoption option, volunteering in the same area for five days in one go or over a few months. This adoption can be in a much smaller area and really suits people keen to improve an area close to home. 

One-off and regular work parties

We can work with you to jointly run volunteering sessions with your organisation.

We regularly work with organisations who are only able to work with us for a single day or a short term, one-off project. Likewise, we also work with organisations keen to come out regularly, because they’ve got time for a longer term project and want to oversee regular maintenance.

Get in touch

You can contact us by emailing [email protected] with the details of your group, how many members you have, where you are, what you are aiming to achieve and when you aim to get involved.

Adoption Map

Here you'll find all of our current listed adoptions.

A-I

  • Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum
  • Albatross Litter Group
  • Aldcliffe with Stodday Parish Council
  • Ancoats Canal Project
  • Ashton & Riversway PACT
  • Aston University Canal Group
  • Aylestone Meadows Appreciation Society
  • Baltic Place & Canal Wharf Wildlife Gardening Group
  • Birmingham Black Country Wildlife Trust
  • Boat Inn Loughborough
  • Braunston Canal Society
  • Broadcut Moorers
  • Broxbourne Rowing Club
  • Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire
  • Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire
  • Canal Connections
  • Canal Connections
  • Canal Garden - Berkhamsted
  • Capital One
  • Claverton Pumping Station
  • Community Links
  • Community Links
  • Craven Conservation Group
  • Devizes Caen Hill Moorings Adoption
  • Disley Towpath Action Group
  • Douglas Valley Lion’s Club
  • East K & A Volunteer Group
  • Emmaus Mossley
  • Failsworth clean up team
  • Frankton Adopters Brigade (FAB)
  • Freda’s Garden lives on
  • Friends of Bollington Towpath
  • Friends of Cromford Canal
  • Friends of Lady Bay
  • Friends of Leeds & Liverpool Canal, Burscough
  • Friends of Rochdale 9
  • Friends of The Welford Arm
  • Friends of Tipton Cut
  • Gloucester United Angling Association
  • Groundwork Greater Nottingham
  • Holts Crest Way Residents
  • IWA Lichfield
  • IWA Northampton

J-R

S-Z

  • Safe Anchor Trust
  • SAFE Regeneration
  • Salendine School
  • Salesforce
  • Sankey Valley Canal Restoration Society (SCARS)
  • Scott Mortimer Littlebeck Trust
  • Scouts - 4th Crosby & District (St William of York)
  • Scouts - Hydra Explorer Scout Unit
  • Shropshire Paddlesport
  • St Matthews Bath
  • St Paul's Hostel
  • Stable Lives at Parbold Equestrian Centre
  • Stoke Bruerne Canal Partnership
  • Stoke Woods Action Group (SWAG)
  • Stoneclough & Prestolee Action Team
  • Street Scene Greenfield
  • Swansea Canal Society
  • Talybont-on-Usk Community Council
  • The Bridge Short Stay School
  • The Ralla Ecological Garden CIC
  • Tiny Talkers Day Nursery & Friends
  • Uppermill Canal Adoption Network (UCAN)
  • Venus
  • Waterways Experiences
  • Wigan & Leigh College
  • Wigan Pier Boats Ltd (t/a Kittywake Canal Cruises)
  • Witham Waste Warriors
  • Woodley & Romiley Towpath Team