Source A: The canal path

An original contemporary non-fiction-style practice text, written for this question.

When the community group asked for volunteers to clear the canal path, I brought gloves and a small pair of shears. I had walked there for years, and I wanted people to be able to use it without pushing through brambles. We filled several sacks with cuttings and litter. By the end of the morning, the path was open again.

I was pleased, but I knew the work would not stay finished by itself. The group made a rota so someone could check the path each month. A few people had hoped to plant flowers straight away. I asked them to wait until we had dealt with the nettles and checked which plants were already growing. A tidy path matters, but so does looking after it properly.

The next month, I found a family walking there with a pushchair. They thanked us for clearing the way. I felt proud, not because the canal had become somewhere new, but because people could use a familiar place again.

Source B: The water's edge

An original contemporary non-fiction-style practice text, written for this question.

I joined the canal project with my camera because I wanted to show people what was living along the bank. Before the clean-up, discarded cups and tangled plastic seemed to be all anyone noticed. We collected the rubbish, but I also took pictures of the reeds and the insects resting on them.

Some volunteers wanted the whole bank cut back so it would look neat. I worried that this would remove the places where small creatures sheltered. We agreed to clear the path but leave sections of the bank alone. It was slower than making everything look orderly, though the result felt more thoughtful.

Later, I put my photographs on display at the community hall. People stopped to look closely at the water's edge. One child pointed out a small insect I had almost missed. That mattered more to me than a row of clean, empty banks. I wanted people to see the canal as a living place, not just a route through the neighbourhood.