Raking it in

It's weedy great to be back!

Despite the cold it was delightful to join the Friends of Maidenhead Waterways for our first Saturday morning working party of the year.

A highlight was meeting Diya and Kanika, who are new to Windsor and Maidenhead, but bring with them bags of GoodGym spirit, having first joined over 5 years ago in Newham. A warm W&M welcome to you both and waterway to get stuck in!

A blanket statement

Our task today was to use the 4m long extendable rakes to drag nasty blanket weed out of the water and onto the banks. The weeds were sometimes challenging to reach, but that made it all the more satisfying when we did catch a great rakeful of this slimy green stuff.

Once we got into a rhythm we were raking it in! And where did we keep our weedy wealth? On the river banks of course!

In all seriousness, we left the weeds on the banks so that any little creatures caught up in the weeds could crawl back to the water. We were also minful of our impact on wildlife as we looked out for signs of nesting birds so as not to disturb them.

Poles apart

There were around 15-18 volunteers out this morning, but we split into 3 groups to adhere to the Covid-19 risk assessment. There is plenty of space on the Waterways for multiple groups and there is nothing like swinging around a 4 metre long pole with a rake on the end to remind people to keep their distance.

Jordan did a particularly good job of social distancing by somehow commandeering a boat. One minute he was cleaning blanket weed out of the boat rollers...the next he was expertly navigating his craft along the channel, scooping up lots of weed along the way - great work!

Stairway to weed heaven

A special mention also to Kelley, who was on her second community mission of the week. This strong lady showed great stamina and rakishly good skills, manourvering her rake under and over bridges and even finding a secret staircase to a particularly fruitful patch of weeds.

At the end of the morning the transformation from the 'before' view to the 'after' view was a great reward for our efforts, and it is always great to have a reason to be out in the fresh air and making ourselves useful. We look forward to more Waterways outings.