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Braving the rain to prevent flooding

While most people sheltered from the torrential rain last week, a group of dedicated volunteers from Northumberland Wildlife Trust headed to Valley Park in Cramlington to get stuck into the arduous task of removing debris from the swollen river to prevent the site flooding, as well as gathering litter from the whole of the Valley Park area - no mean feat considering the conditions they were working in!

Spurred on by the wit and humour of Anthony Johnston, SENSE II Project Officer the group collected a huge pile of rubbish from old doors and a hat stand, to umbrellas and a rotary washing line!

Anthony said: “When I looked out of the window in the morning and saw the rain lashing down, my heart sank and I thought we would have nobody volunteering in weather like this. But, to my amazement it didn’t appear to put anyone off, in fact I think it spurred them on as they never stopped all day; without the efforts of the NWT volunteers, the Park would not be as wonderful as it is.”

Valley Park, is one of five sites being improved by Northumberland Wildlife Trust as part of the SENSE II Project which is funded by the Banks Community Fund (through the mining, property and renewable energy developer the Banks Group) and is a three year scheme aimed at making practical improvements to a number of green sites in South East Northumberland which will benefit both members of the public and visiting and resident wildlife.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sue Bishop .