two old ponds and a Fairtrade stall

Dragging mud and debris out,
the banks will green over
quickly

Last month I reported on a day in the cold and the wet fencing off a series of new ponds for the National Trust www.nationaltrust.org.uk/, well last week it was ponds with them again. However this time we were in dappled sunshine in the beautiful woods at Hayburn Wyke and we were continuing the clearance of some long forgotten, probably Victorian ponds. Two ponds, full of mud and tree debris, one below the other, with an overflow from the top one linking to the lower one. As we scrapped out the mud we came across the remains of stone surrounds and even, with some imagination, perhaps the remains of a stone cascade. We cleared ditches (which led springs into the ponds), found tiny little stone bridges and pushed branches under some of the bridges to clear decades of mud and twigs.

Poking around under an old stone bridge

It was wonderful towards the end of the afternoon to see water flowing into the top pond, out and down into the bottom pond and then out again and eventually to the sea. A group from a large local firm had started the work, we did a lot more, but there is still more to be done. We discussed what records there might be of how the woods were originally laid out, but at the moment, sadly, no-one either knows or has the time to find out.

yummy chocolate

At the end of the week I was, fortunately as it rained all day, indoors at Ryedale District Council offices. We had our regular Fairtrade stall, doing a roaring sale in chocolate. We also sold quite a lot of craft items, children's toys being a favourite. In fact one crocodile was so popular that we took orders and will deliver them next week. As usual all the goods from Fairer World in York.www.fairerworldyork.co.uk.

some of the craft items

If you live near York, you can see a much wider range of Fairtrade food and crafts at the shop in Gillygate.

Our local group met earlier in the week and started the discussions on ensuring that we maintain our Fairtrade town status, more of this to come.