Digging a Drinking Pool

On March 18th, the final spring work party with Gresham’s School saw five 17-year-olds joining us at West Beckham Old Allotments on a glorious sunny day. The task for the afternoon was to make a drinking pool by the new bench in the middle of the field.

The boys set to with enthusiasm to dig out a hole with gently sloping sides to allow easy access for Hedgehogs and birds such as the elusive Turtle Dove. The hole was lined with an old piece of carpet before we laid the liner – an offcut from the large pond. The turf which had been set aside earlier was used to weigh down and camouflage the edges of the liner.

Next came the job of fetching the water to fill the pond. This involved the lads taking it in turns to fill containers from the water butts behind the tool-shed and transporting the filled container back, trying not to slop too much out on the way.