Picture: A Budding Young Driver (Sam, I Believe!)

The volunteer event for May focused on mending the protective fencing along the banks above the pony paddock main access (where the water tank is located).  The existing fence had become just a line of posts with odd bits of wire remaining to be removed!

The Ranger, Joanna Lawrence, had made available posts from the workshop storage yard which will be longer lasting than the logs that are usually used and this made an enormous difference.

Picture: Planning Putting Up Posts And Rails

There was a very good turnout on what was an absolutely glorious day and everyone enthusiastically got down to the tasks of digging, sawing and hammering! A variety of passers-by asked about what we were doing and some even wanted to get involved (see picture at top).

Picture: Really Getting Stuck In!

Picture: After the Digging, Inserting A Post

As an aside, just as the task was about to start we were informed by a member of the public that there was a fire burning nearby that needed to be extinguished. In fact the fire brigade had arrived by the time we got there (in other words, very quickly) and were already dousing the remaining embers. The fire engine was able to get right up to the fire due to it’s compact size.

Note: To avoid any possible misunderstandings, in the above photo (‘Really Getting Stuck In’), full H&S precautions were of course taken. Indeed appropriate information on the correct use of tools is given prior to each volunteer event.

Fleet Pond Society will be having a Garden Party this Saturday, 13th June 2009, from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm at:

“Grasmere”, 35 Chestnut Grove, Fleet

The pictures above and below are of this very beautiful setting which overlooks the pond.

There will be alot on offer including

• delicious teas and homemade cakes and sandwiches
• plants and garden sundries
• books and a drawing competition
• skittles, a coconut shy and a football game
• bric-a-brac and ‘guess where the treasure is?’
• many more stalls
• raffle with great prizes (drawn at 2:30 pm)

All the proceeds of the Garden Party will go to the upkeep of Fleet Pond Nature Reserve. See also previous post  ‘Garden Party In June’.

Picture credits: Cathy Holden

Fleet Pond Society organises and runs a series of volunteer conservation activities at the Pond. The next conservation task is this coming Sunday, June 14.

The plan is to follow up on the work by the O2 volunteers to upgrade the footpath from Gelvert Bridge to Coldstream Glade.

If you have never been before and fancy trying it, please just turn up (details here) or else give Colin Gray a call on 01252 616183, who will be delighted to provide additional information.

Cathy Holden writes:

Funding for the upkeep of the pond is an ongoing problem and so the society was thrilled to receive a £1,000 donation from the Conservation Foundation.

It came about through Jo Howard, an employee of O2 who lives in Fleet and enjoys her walks around the pond. Jo spoke to our chairman, Colin Gray, regarding making a bid under the O2 ‘It’s Your Community’ scheme for a grant from the Conservation Foundation. They decided that the repair of the pathway between the Gelvert Stream and Coldstream Glade would be an ideal project (see map on About page above for locations).  Jo submitted the idea and was thrilled when the Foundation agreed to donate £1,000 to the Society to buy the materials required for the job, with Hart District Council making up the shortfall of £375.

However, not satisfied with just organising the funding, Jo also arranged a group of fellow employees from O2 to provide the labour!

So on a sunny morning in May about 16 keen volunteers from O2, along with several members of Fleet Pond Society and the Hart Council Rangers responsible for the nature reserve gathered at the site.  The rangers had already marked out where the edges of the footpath were to be, so the first job was to dig a trench either side of the pathway for the wooden supports to go in. Following on from this, nineteen tonnes of a mixture of sand and stone had to be shovelled onto the liner and raked out to within one inch of the top of the wooden planks on each side of the path.  This was very hard work but everyone got down to it with much light-hearted banter.

Picture: Spreading The Sand And Stones

During the morning we stopped work whilst the photographer from O2 got everyone organised for a photo of the presentation of the cheque (picture at the very top). After this, lunch beckoned and people drifted off to spots around the pond to eat their sandwiches, or to enjoy lunch at a local pub.

Picture: Doing Some Flattening!

Once lunch was over it was back to laying the last of the sand and stone mixture, after which it was compacted with the flattening machine – which everyone wanted a go at (picture above).  This was followed by the top dressing of gravel, which also had to be raked to a very smooth finish and compacted (picture below). As well as the pathway the team filled a few of the large dips in the track leading around from Coldstream Glade towards the field.

Picture: On Goes The Gravel

The Society and Rangers would like to thank Jo Howard and her O2 team for their work and initiative on this project and the Conservation Foundation for their generosity.  It was very hard going, but everyone put their backs into it and the enthusiasm and laughter throughout the day made the task seem all the lighter. Many of the visitors enjoying a walk round the pond in the sunshine stopped to chat and were very impressed and appreciative of the hard work being put in by the volunteer team.

Picture credits: Cathy Holden

Picture: At The End Of The Day