Wed 28th Oct 2020 - Queensgate Primary School, East Cowes. GG # 834.

 Terry's Photographs.

 On this photo you may notice that the down-pipe looks a bit strange. Apparently the downpipe was missing so Geoff improvised with part of the cardboard tube from the liner as a temporary solution, so as to get this afternoon's downpour into the water butt!

Mark's Photographs.

Mark's Editorial.

There was a certain amount of urgency about this week's session. Not due to the fact we had unavoidably had to delay the job from the spring for Covid 19. No, it was once again the weather forecast that concentrated the minds to crack on with the task of lining a pond. Heavy showers threatened!

The main task, as I say, was to line a pond which the builders of the school's new building had kindly dug out earlier in the year. This new pond now is located in 'The Patch' which is their Forest School area. This was my first visit, before it was dug.

And this was the McAlpine builders with their bit done!

By the way - IW Green Gym's involvement at Osborne Middle School (now Queensgate) and The Footprint Trust's go back some years.  Their old pond, which we created in 2009 and this session later in the year has, along with the old school, now had to be removed, but it had done remarkably well! This was it in February 2020.

This week. Thanks to the Island's Footprint Trust gaining a grant from The Prince of Wales's Charitable Foundation, we were assisting in the creation of a new pond for the benefit of the school's environment and so importantly a resource for the children to aid learning.

The job first was to re-profile slightly the margins around the pond, variously on the different sides; allowing for children to sweep their dipping nets on one; allow a shallowly sloping relief for invertebrates on another; with some too being shelved to enable planting to create marginal habitat. Well done team! Then there was the stone and gravel to be rakes away, clearing anything which might  puncture the liner. The old carpet, plus protective membrane and finally the Greenseal pond liner was laid.

Rainwater is by far the best water to use in ponds, it being much lower in nutrients than tap water, so not encouraging algal growth. So, again thanks to the funding, we installed guttering and a water butt on the nearby shed.  Remarkably all achieved before the rains set in, so lucky!

Link to the school's newsletter... http://www.queensgateprimary.co.uk/assets/images/branding/queensgate-newsletter-06.11.20.pdf

Many thanks to Terry & Mark for the photographs and to Mark for the comprehensive editorial 👍.