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Nonington Village Pond. Location The village pond is situated opposite the Royal Oak public house at the junction of Holt Street, Easole Street and Vicarage Lane. History. This small wooded area was used by the highways for drainage and was completely fenced off. The wood became over grown and water flooded up to 1.5 meters high in the winter and then this completely dried out in the summer. It had also become full of litter and was regarded as an eyesore by the village.
In 1999 Mrs Catterall proposed the cleaning of the area by the Dolphins (a club for children under twelve) as a project for the new millennium. In the spring of 2000 the project had not started, so it was proposed by Councillor Barnett that the project should be run by the Parish Council and enlarged to make a permanent pond and a pleasant wooded area accessible to the whole village through out the year. This was to be linked to upgrading the playground particularly for teenagers and very young children. A village meeting was held on the 26 July 2000 at which eighty-one parishioners voted for the proposals and four abstained. The Parish Council then agreed to run the finances and appointed a subcommittee to organise the practical work of the project. Money for the work was obtained from the Single Regeneration Budget, the Rural Development Agency and the Parish Council. The project started by removing unwanted trees and bushes. This was followed by the first village workday at which the children planted a natural hedge along the perimeter with the road.
Further village workdays were organised to lay a path through the wood and put in the pond liner. The members of the work group that carried out the rest of the work were from the subcommittee.
The chairman of the Kent B.T.C.V. officially opened the area on 13th October 2001.
The pond and wood are still being modified and improved as well as maintained by the "Pond and Playground Committee" working with the Parish Council. Volunteers to assist in this work are always welcome. |
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