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Friends of
BEDFONT LAKES COUNTRY PARK (Registered Charity Number 1118958) |
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Feltham Air Cadets Get Involved at Bedfont Lakes Home | Membership | Volunteering | Site Map A group of nine air cadets from 94 (Feltham) Squadron, Air Training Corps (http://94squadron.com/)are involved in volunteer work at Bedfont Lakes as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award. Matthew contacted us in January to ask if this would be possible and the management arranged for the cadets to work for a few hours once a month on a Saturday. The cadets will be helping for up to six months, depending on which badge they are working for. Matthew is thoroughly enjoying the work and has sent us reports and some photos. Bedfont lakes My name is Matthew. I am 15 years old and I am an air cadet in Feltham. I am doing the Duke of Edinburgh award and as part of this me and a group of 8 other air cadets do some volunteer work at Bedfont lakes Country Park. Some of us doing the bronze award will be doing the work for three months while others who are doing the silver award will be doing it for six months. So far we have been to three sessions, the sessions are hard work and everyone gets involved. On the first session we started to build a fence to secure a field (this was so sheep could be housed there). We were split into three groups, one group put the posts into the ground and the other two groups dug 3ft holes for the strainer posts. I was in one of the groups digging the holes. It was quite hard starting the holes off but by lunch we had dug about 2ft. When we went for lunch we were joined by another air cadet. We had about 45 minutes to eat our lunch then we went back to the field and carried on with our jobs. We dug for about ten minutes before we realised the base of the hole was clay (this was the clay top of the landfill underneath). It was back breaking work to dig these holes, and because the spades did not reach the bottom we ended up having to lay down and dig the holes with our hands. We finished early that day because Andrew (who was putting the fence posts up) hit his finger with the sledge hammer. He was fine and after going to hospital couldn’t wait to get home to watch the football. On the second session we continued to build the fence, but this time we started to put the wire on. We worked in pairs to support the post and staple the fence, and after the first stretch of fence my hand was aching so I swapped with my partner. We had to keep stopping because we were catching up with the group who were rolling the wire out. When we were half way through this job we went for lunch and again the other air cadet joined us. When we went back to the field we carried on from where we left off. I started to put more posts into the ground, but the wood kept splitting and flying everywhere, luckily it didn’t hit anyone! After that we carried on putting staples into the fence. We went home about 2.30 as we ran out of wire. The third session was on Saturday 4th April. We cleared some trees and bushes so that the space could be used to store things which are currently being stored in the overflow car park. We also had a bonfire to burn the cuttings. It was hard work and we kept getting tangled in the branches and thorn bushes, nevertheless it was still great fun. Lastly we moved some logs to make a bigger log pile and to clear the pathway. We finished before lunch and because there was nothing else to do so we were allowed to go home. This was probably my favourite day because it was fun and we all worked together. so far I have learnt the skills for fencing and team work. Comments from other air cadets: Sarah: ‘I learned how to work as a team to help my community’
Volunteer Day 2nd May 2009 Today we arrived at the usual time of 10am. We waited for a while for the latecomers and then walked over to the old bird watch shed that we were knocking down. It was sunny and we were working on the edge of the lake making the day more enjoyable. We started by clearing some old wood and steel that was lying on the floor. Making two piles we separated the reusable stuff from the stuff we would use for the bonfire. After this we began to knock the shelter down. The first thing we had to do was knock the wall down, which was quite easy, with a sledge hammer. We dragged it away and some other volunteers broke it up for the bonfire. We had a short discussion about how we could safely take down the roof of the shelter and decided to saw through the front three legs first. We worked in pairs and quickly cut through the wooden poles. Then all of us went to the back of the shelter and pushed against it. Luckily because the shelter was old it easily fell off and we began to break it up. Then the bonfire was lit and we cleared up the area and went and sat in the new bird watch for a little while. Then it was lunch time and after lunch we went home. Comments from other air cadets: Andrew: I learnt how to build a fence properly and enjoyed the bonfire. Zoe: The best bit was working as a team.
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