Category Archives: Events

FPS, Rio and Fleet Carnival 2016

Events, Fund Raising

Carnival 2016 6

A good shot of the FPS Rio float travelling along Fleet Road (click to enlarge)

David Pottinger writes:

Fleet Pond Society (FPS) is well-known for the activities it carries out at the Pond and major projects include the Lions’ View platform and the new pond dipping jetty.

However FPS interacts with the local community in many other ways, including giving talks and presentations to increase awareness, and also participating in the famous Fleet Carnival.

Each year ideas are discussed by the FPS Committee and a team and approach are chosen. Then all the hard work starts in actually bringing the ideas to life!

From the Carnival web site:

This years Carnival theme is Rio.

The ideas for floats are endless, you can choose to base your entry on the Olympics as a whole, or one of the 42 sports that will be featured or the Rio Carnival.  The choice is yours!

Here are some photos from the FPS entry (special thanks to Terry Austin and Mandy Saxby for the float design and costumes respectively):

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Some of the FPS team at the start of the procession

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Introducing the very athletic Meercat members of the team…

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Michelle Salter, FPS Secretary, just about visible under the hat!

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Another shot of the colourful FPS float

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FPS Chairman, Colin Gray, in South American mode!

 

The Birth of the New Pond Dipping Platform

Events, People, Volunteering

Holly and Colin

Holly Reeves (TAG Farnborough) and Colin Gray (FPS)

Cathy Holden writes:

The brand new dipping platform at Fleet Pond’s Hemelite Bay proved to be one of the highlights of the recent Wildlife Day event. From its official opening it was packed with families the whole day.

The Fleet Pond Society ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ team of volunteers carried out the construction led by Terry Austin, Vice Chairman of Fleet Pond Society (FPS).

Terry said: ‘This was not an easy task but a very satisfying one as it was built to commemorate forty years of volunteering at the Pond. The frame of the old jetty proved very difficult to remove having sunk deep into the mud and involved us spending a lot of time in our waders, chest deep in the water.’

A grant organised through the Rushmoor Environment Fund, from the Farnborough Airport Community Environment Fund enabled the Society to buy the necessary materials and have the jetty framework constructed. From their site:

For every take-off or landing at Farnborough airport, the community environmental fund receives money to help support local projects. The airport pays a levy of £2 for every take-off or landing or £5 if the aircraft is a Boeing business jet or an Airbus A310 corporate jet. This money goes into the community environmental fund, which we manage.

The Society were delighted to welcome Holly Reeves, the Environment Management Assistant for TAG Farnborough Airport to cut the swan decorated tape and declare the jetty open (see pictures above and below).

Holly and Colin 2

Colin Gray, Chairman of FPS, said: ‘We are very grateful to Rushmoor Environment Fund for sponsoring this project. It is a fitting memorial to the Society’s 40th year.’

Wildlife Day Platform 2016

Adults and children enjoying the new platform on Wildlife Day 2016

Ed. Here’s a series of photos that gives an idea of all the hard work and planning that went into constructing the new jetty. It also provides an impressive example of how FPS provides substantial and long lasting benefits to visitors to Fleet Pond.

We are a registered charity and your financial support would be greatly appreciated. If you would like to contribute you can make an online donation (see tab above) or you can join the Society to also receive a very attractive and informative newsletter (see tab above).

We hope you enjoy the new jetty in your walks around the Pond!

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Planning the construction on the ground

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Getting the foundations right

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Putting in the planking

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The impressive finished product

Wildlife Day at Fleet Pond this Sunday, 5 June

Events

David Pottinger writes:

There will be a Wildlife Day at Fleet Pond this coming Sunday, from 11.00 to 15.00. This event is FREE and will include:

  • Mobile farm
  • Bug hunting
  • Bush craft
  • Pond dipping
  • Pipe cleaner dragonflies
  • Bat finger puppets

At the time of writing, the weather is predicted to be warm and sunny 🙂

Please see the poster here that gives full details (how to get to the event etc).

Previous Wildlife Days have proven very popular and to get a flavour, take a look at the photos below, which were taken at last year’s event.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Looking at fish taken from the Pond – some surprisingly big ones!

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The Fleet Pond Society stand – we’re there to answer your queries

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Some appetising food and drink is available

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Fun and games for children

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An ice-cream on a warm day always goes down well

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Bird watching on one of the jetties

Building the Chestnut Grove Jetty: 40th Celebrations

Events, History, Volunteering

This year sees the celebration of the 40th birthday of Fleet Pond Society. As part of this we are are having an Exhibition in the Hart Shopping Centre as well as producing occasional articles that illustrate some of the major pieces of work carried out by the Society over this period. A previous article described the creation of the circular route round the pond (see here) and this one describes the building of the familiar and very popular Chestnut Grove jetty.

Cathy Holden writes:

“Along with the circular path, one of the first major tasks undertaken by the volunteers of the new society was the construction of a concrete jetty at Chestnut Grove.

Up to that point there had only been a small jetty created from railway sleepers.

B76 Chest Grove jetty 1

The jetty was constructed using pre-mixed concrete and on the first run 200 sacks were filled by hand from the pile dumped in the road by the mixer.

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The sacks were then lowered into position in the freezing water by Bill Wain and Peter Martin, the only people who owned waders.

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However, by the time the mixer came round with the second load a much more labour efficient system was in place. The sacks were filled with the cement as it came down the shute and the volunteers formed a production line to get them out to Bill and Peter.

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Further concrete was poured into the middle and then levelled out.

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This jetty has been altered over the years to include an extension out to the right. It is still a favourite spot for visitors to feed the swans and other water birds, or just to look out over the Pond.

Chestnut now

With thanks to Peter Martin for the use of his book ‘Fleet Pond Society 1976 – 2006’ for reference. This interesting book is still available from the Society.”

Photos courtesy of the FPS Archives.