Sometimes it isn't easy for people to get out to see, explore or discover their local waterway due to age - too old, too young, mobility issues or simply a lack of interest. To help overcome some of these issues our Canal Community Liaison Officer in Scotland, Steven Cole, got together with the Open Museum at Glasgow Museum Resource centre to create a Glasgow Canal Kit.

The kit contains museum objects such as a model puffer boat, a kingfisher, butterflies, plant-life specimens, a horseshoe, a windlass, boat tickets and small samples of goods that were both transported on and made along the canals. There are also photographs, a map, suggested walks and a history of the canal.

Local community groups such as youth groups, nurseries, care homes, community centres can borrow the kit free of charge and help more people uncover the history of their area, the wildlife that make their homes along waterways or perhaps how of Glasgow has changed over the years.

This is just one of the ways that the Trust is helping to make the story, heritage and wildlife of our canals and rivers more accessible to the local community.

You can find out more about this kit by contacting the Open Museum.

I'm also trying to stick to my New Year's resolution of doing some kind of exercise each day and with Spring on its way, the office's location in Gloucester Docks leaves me with no excuse but to get out and pound that towpath on my lunch break. If you are able to get along to a canal or river, they can be fantastic places to set a new PB (personal best). A nice, flat route makes a marked difference to the hills of Herefordshire where I live!