By Monica Chard
Young and old picked up tools and set to work on clearing Lord’s Bridge pond last month. It was the first working party of vol-unteers, under the Shepperton Village Conser-vation Group (SVCG), who have set out to tidy up this rather neglected corner of Shep-perton. Martin Thomas lead the charge and arranged two working parties, cutting bram-bles and saplings, severing ivy which was choking trees and clearing some of the debris.
George and Poppy, both 6 got stuck in, work-ing with their enthusiastic parents, cutting, chopping and piling up. Others started the onerous task of investigating the swamp and tried to clear some of the algae. It became clear early on that this was going to need some heavy duty waders and a lot of patience (not to mention clothes pegs for the nose! It stinks!). Within minutes there was a catch and out came….a computer desk! Honestly, what the heck?
After a couple of hours of collective activity, we had cleared a lot. If you look over the fence on Church Rd, just before the Halliford playing fields, you will see quite a difference.
The idea is to make this a more beautiful environment, taking it from neglected to cared for.
There was a second party in September and planned for October there are two more: on are 9th and 30th . Look out for notices at the site itself and don’t be shy about getting involved. There is even free cake at half time!