Budge that Sludge!

Sol and Sheila went joined the Friends of Maidenhead Waterways for their workparty. We were assigned to be in Group C, and met up in a car park (once we had found the right one!) . We transported the equipment to the work area alongside the waterway. First catch of the day was to pull a shopping trolley out of the waterway, which later proved to be very useful to transport all the bags of debris collected. Our main task was to sweep up the leaves from the path, revealing the gratings. Once uncovered, these were lifted and all the accumulated debris inside cleared out. Inside, the earthworms had made some beautiful humus out of the decayed leaves, but we had to evict them. Further down the slope, the accumulated matter was more like sludge, which was scooped out too. The path is now able to drain freely. Finally the path was swept of any remaining leaves to ensure they didn't find their way down the grates again. Having also litter-picked as we went along, we left the area looking neat and tidy. A very satisfying task which gave us a great workout. We look forward to the next session.