Many thanks for the interest you’ve shown in Fleet Pond Blog this year. We’ve been fortunate in having had over 177,000 visits since it started in July 2008!
We’ve lots of ideas for posts for 2018 that we hope you’ll find interesting, so please stay tuned. Also, if you have any requests for topics, we’d be very happy to hear from you…
Until then, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Making nesting boxes for Tawny Owls
Colin Gray, Chairman of Fleet Pond Society, writes:
Men’s Shed for Church Crookham and Fleet was set up only recently and as yet do not have a home of their own. They are very keen to take on tasks for their members and, where possible, raise funds towards building a shed of their own. Fleet Pond Society committee had decided that we would like to provide more nesting boxes for Tawny Owls at the nature reserve. Men’s Shed seemed a very good option and we approached Allan Walker with the plans. They produced two boxes for us which I collected on 19 July (see above).
The following is an extract from the Men’s Shed website (see here) which explains their aims and objectives under the general banner of:
Bringing people together to make or mend in a friendly and safe environment.
“What is a men’s shed?
A men’s shed is a larger version of the typical man’s shed in the garden – a place where he feels at home and pursues practical interests with a high degree of autonomy. A men’s shed offers this to a group of such men where members share the tools and resources they need to work on projects of their own choosing at their own pace and in a safe, friendly and inclusive venue. They are places of skill-sharing and informal learning, of individual pursuits and community projects, of purpose, achievement and social interaction. A place of leisure where men (and women) come together to work.
A shed’s activities usually involve making or mending in wood (eg carpentry, joinery, turning, carving, whittling, marquetry, furniture renovation) but may include metalworking (milling, sheet metal, welding etc), bike repair, gardening, electronics, tool renovation, boat renovation, model engineering (model railways, planes) and even building a car! Reclamation, reuse and restoration will feature strongly – and some say that is true of the men too! Although sheds mostly attract older men, some have included men of any age, women and young people. Whichever activities are pursued the essence of a shed is not a building, which some don’t have, but the network of relationships between the members.
Our Shed:
Our shed is currently located at Calthorpe Park School. They have kindly allowed us to use their design technology room and tools until we have our own shed up and running. Their tools include wood and metalwork lathes, pillar drills, band saws etc and they have many workbenches. We are gradually collecting together our own collection of tools to take with us to our shed when it is ready. We are busy working on our own projects and jointly working on various community projects.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsBby_A1xXk&w=560&h=315]
“Hart District Council and Fleet Pond Society give the Mannequin Challenge a go, in the midst of a spot of Reedbed Management.”
Of course, sometimes things go to the opposite extreme (see here) 🙂
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/38794168@N05/18707281963 w=450 h=300]
Picture inspired by Coldstream Marsh, Jacob’s Wood and Willow Island
David Pottinger writes:
A few weeks ago I was waiting for a train to London at Fleet Station. It turned out that the train was 10 minutes late so, with nothing better to do, I started looking around at the various improvements to the station, including the new waiting room. On closer inspection, I noticed that there were some very attractive artworks on the walls of the latter and, going inside, I was very surprised to see that they were of the different parts of Fleet Pond! If you’re unfamiliar with the geography of Fleet Pond, see the map here.
The next time you’re taking a train in the direction of London, why not take a look? They’re very well done (see above and below).
Comment: I’ve been back twice to take some more photos but both times the waiting room was locked. Apparently there’s a technical fault with the press button door lock that they are aware of and presumably will sort out shortly.
Here are some photos that I took (click to enlarge). As you can see, the pictures are large and impressive:
Picture inspired by Kenilworth Wood, Dry Heath and Fugelmere Bay
Picture inspired by Coldstream Marsh, Jacob’s Wood and Willow Island
Picture inspired by Lions’ View, Bramshot Wood and Boathouse Corner
Picture inspired by Sandy Bay, East Marsh and Brookly Reedbed
Fleet Neighbourhood Policing Team issued this message on 30/06/2016:
Dear Residents,
We have had two reports today (30th June) of separate vehicles being broken into in the car park at Fleet Pond. In one incident, a window has been smashed and glove box searched, and in another the vehicle doors have been opened and a bag taken from the back seat.
Since this occurring Police have patrolled the area this afternoon and found several vehicles with windows down and personal stereos on show, and another with the keys left in the ignition.
Please read our advice below which can help deter and prevent this type of crime occurring:
If anyone has any information which could assist with our investigations, they are encouraged to call Police on 101, quoting Police reference 44160243474.
Thank you
Fleet Neighbourhood Policing Team
Message sent by
Darren Guy (Police, PCSO, Hart District)