A Good Clear-out by Gresham’s Students
On a blustery autumnal day, we welcomed seven students and two members of staff to our site at Hindolveston. David H, our resident expert on all things watery, explained the aims of the day’s activities: to improve the state of the ponds by removing fallen branches and leaf litter from the bottom of the ponds, as these are broken down by bacteria that consume oxygen, so that when there’s too much debris in the pond, the water becomes de-oxygenated and consequently devoid of life.
The plan was also to remove overhanging branches on the south side of the ponds, to allow light to penetrate. The very dry hot summer that we’ve had meant that all the ponds had completely dried up, giving us the opportunity to get right in, to be able to remove the unwanted material.
Once they’d received their instructions, and the obligatory health and safety briefing, the students set to with gusto. One group cleared paths of brambles, nettles and other overgrowth to allow us to move freely around the site. The second group sawed and hauled away a lot of fallen branches and some overgrown willows that were preventing the light from reaching the ground, creating a large pile of brash at the side, that will no doubt be occupied by all sorts of wildlife once they have got used to the new habitat. They then dug out the bottom of the pond, removing the build-up of fallen leaves, twigs and rotten debris which was heaped up at the side of the pond.
We hope that a deeper area may perhaps allow the pond to hold some water for longer in future hot summers. After a break for hot chocolate and doughnuts, the students moved on to a couple of other ponds to carry out the same process, with some of the cut branches used to reinforce the corduroy path to the bridge. The hard work and the appearance of the sun soon had jackets and sweatshirts stripped off and hung off obliging branches.
Before we knew it, it was lunchtime. We headed to the Wood Norton site where we were able to take advantage of the facilities (a bench and a composting toilet). A quick walk around the site enabled the students to see how much the water table has dropped: our board walks were more than a meter above the ground, while the boat ramp (constructed at a previous Gresham’s field day) seemed superfluous as we were able to walk across the bottom of the largest pond without even getting our feet muddy.
During a final session back at Hindolveston, we tackled the furthest – and biggest – pond, where there were a number of really large fallen trees. The students were determined to finish the work, and finally triumphed in hauling away the last piece of log (which put up quite a fight!) before they had to return to school.
A huge amount got done and the students and staff worked really hard, alongside a number of Felbeck Trust volunteers. So a big thank you to everyone who participated, and we look forward to working with Gresham’s students in the future.
Val Stubbs
October 8th 2026
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