THIS week's Oswestry Advertizer Camera Club features another stunning showcase of our beloved county.

One of the jewels of Shropshire which has made it famous around the world is its canal.

The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the 'Shroppie', connects the county with of Staffordshire, Cheshire, West Midlands, the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal at Ellesmere Port as well as crossing the border into Wales.

The Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company was formed in 1846.

The Ellesmere and Chester canals had amalgamated in 1813, and the absorption of the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal by the Ellesmere and Chester Company was authorised by an Act of Parliament passed in 1845.

A further Act, passed in 1846, changed the name of the company to the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company.

In more recent decades efforts to restore the canal to past glories have continued as volunteers on both sides of the border work tirelessly.

Such efforts are much appreciated by residents and wildlife.

Each week camera club members share their discoveries alongside the canal on both sides of the border.

It is a waterway which teams with life and it is wonderful to see barges co-exist on the canal alongside its permanent residents.