The new section will open at the end of August

Work on a new section of waterway linking an Oxfordshire canal
to the River Thames is nearing completion.

The new £160,000 Jubilee Junction at Abingdon will join the Wilts & Berks Canal with the river network.

It is part of a wider plan to restore a navigable waterway linking the Wilts & Berks Canal, Kennet & Avon Canal,
the Thames & Severn Canal and the Thames.

Most of the work has been carried out by volunteers and the canal is expected to be officially opened on 30 August.

'Navigable state'

Martin Buckland, project manager, said: "Although contractors are being used, all of the planning and much of the
physical work is being carried out by volunteer members of the Waterway Recovery Group and the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust.
I am delighted to see so many of all ages wanting to participate in the project."

Created between 1796 and 1810 the Wilts & Berks Canal was 52 miles (84km) long and linked the Kennet and Avon canal near Trowbridge,
with the River Thames near Abingdon.

The canal enjoyed a period of prosperity between 1817 and 1841 but then fell into decline and was formally abandoned in 1914.

The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust now aims to return the waterway to "a navigable state".