By Helen Stedman
11 Nov 2026

Work to Clear the Pond

There has been a lot of progress on the pond in quite a short space of time so quite a lot to report!
Ros and Helen went to the Parish Council meeting on November 9th, where the Council decided to take ownership of the pond, which will ensure that someone is in charge of its welfare long-term, which is a great step forward. Green Appleton and the Wood Group will form a "Pond Subgroup" or similar title, so they can actually carry out the neccesary work. Apart from anything else, this means that the PC will buy the skip, or whatever we decide is the best way of removing the debris, and they can claim the VAT back, saving us 20% of the cost, which is quite a consideration. How the costs are to be split between the PC and Green Appleton and co. are yet to be decided.

Since autumn/winter is a dormant period for wildlife, work needs to be done now to clear the excess vegetation, so John Page and his crew have been hard at work.

He is holding three sessions, with a fourth held in reserve for contingency, on Tuesday 3rd, 11th, 17th and 24th (if required) November in the mornings. The first took place last week, and the second is taking place today. There is already a really big difference!

So many thanks to John, and everyone who has volunteered to take on this work.
We have a crowd funding page for donations, at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/greenappleton and many people have given generously to it, so thankyou to everyone who has contributed. And if anyone else could consider dropping in a sheckel or two this would be gratefully received.

If you feel able to help us in the remaining clearing sessions (you need to be physically able) please contact us at greenappleton2021@gmail.com. Thanks very much.