Work Party 17 May

The informal Dipping Platform which is for supervised use by schools and on public events organised by the Friends of Hartshill Park.

The Work Party today met at the Convent Pools to create an informal Dipping Platform at the Top Convent Pool which will enable the Friends to better accommodate Pond Dipping events. Last year following the restoration of the Middle Convent Pool and its associated Pond Dipping area, we carried out an exercise with children from the Willows Primary School in Penkhull using the new  Middle Pool (one year old then) and the Top Convent Pool (at least two hundred years old) and examined the difference in the types of pond life found in both.

At the Top Convent Pool there was only a path which soon became muddy and slippy as the dipping progressed and the products were examined. It was decided that a better environment was need and so we improved the site by digging out part of the Pool bank and placed two 8 foot timber sections there with posts to support them in place to create a solid bankside. The path was then stoned to  provide a solid and dry surface to stand on.

The work which had been scheduled to be completed in June was finished on the day, leaving the Work Party on 19  June to concentrate of path maintenance, which will involve topping up paths and steps with stone and repairing steps and edging boards, together with strimming paths and cutting back overgrowth such as nettles.

Park users can help us by identifying those places needing attention so that on the day we can start work straight away without needing to check the paths beforehand.  Photographs of such places would be a help in identification. They can be e-mailed to redwards847@gmail.com.

Path maintenance will continued on the  Work Party on 17 July.