SPA Geog Year 11 Volunteering with Thames21
The Year 11
Geography students who are keen to be part of the NEW ambassadors’ scheme for
Geography participated in a volunteering visit to Foots Cray Meadows on the 5th
November with Thames21. This trip embraced a new member of volunteering scheme
and an honouree Geography student Nikola who now has completed 10 hours. Nikola
is a hard-working and dedicated member of the volunteering initiative who has
excelled in her first two trips to the meadows (seen bottom right). For others
it was the first time volunteering in the local community, such as Gareth (far
left) and James (second left). Where
will St Paul’s opportunities take you?
The first task
of the day was to replenish the supply of willow from trees alongside the river
to use in the creation of river walls to minimise erosion. This involved the
use of saws and bill hooks to cut the tree at the base of the branches but with
enough space for regrowth. For many of the students this was the first time
that they had experienced willow coppicing and they learnt about the ecology of
the plants whilst working with Thames21 staff. Year 11 got to branch out their
skills from this excursion- excuse the pun and poor attempt at humour!
 |
| Gareth tree coppicing. |
As you can see
from the picture below, the students worked hard to generate enough resources
for the next task. Unfortunately this meant transporting the willow sticks 2
miles to the other end of the stream.
The second part
of the day the students use the waders to start to build the willow river wall.
The reason for this activity was to minimise the force of hydraulic action on
the river cliffs at the side of the river. Much of this part of the bank had
been eroded by the force of the river and accelerated by dog walkers allowing
their pets to enter the river. In combination this had created footpath and
river cliff erosion. This was particularly useful for the students as they were
able to witness ‘Geography in reality’ from theory learnt about Rivers in the
classroom.
The Year 11
students split into different teams – one group in charge of creating a new
soil layer to replace the eroded material with soil and river pebbles and the
other to build the wall. You can witness the extent of the erosion of the bank
in the picture above.
As you can bear
witness to below, the Year 11 students have taken ownership of the River Cray
and personally reduced the erosion along this stretch of water. Another
incredible achievement by St Paul’s students and in particular representing the
SPA Geography department as assets to the local community. This was commented
upon by various members of the public. Even Michael made a cameo appearance and worked as hard as he usually does :OD
Check out the
school website and Geography blog for all the latest articles and pictures-
including ways to participate in the NEW ambassadors’ scheme. COMING SOON!
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