On 04/08/08 the Weekday Conservation Team went to Livingstone Lower School in Bedford to a) build a fence & gate to protect an area of grass that is going to be planted/sown as a wildflower meadow and b) to construct some benches for an ‘outdoor classroom.’ We also improved the access around the pond area & made a habitat pile from the cuttings and with some left over timber, we constructed a raised bed.
Above: John A (kneeling), Tony P (standing in front) and John P (almost entirely hidden) are erecting the fence. We used half round posts (they’re cheaper, we use less materials and they were sufficient for their expected use).
Above: The kelly kettles in action!
Above: John A constructing the raised bed. We used the leftover rails (we always slightly over order on timber in case calculations are wrong or somebody cuts the timber in the wrong place & it therefore becomes unusable) and some offcuts to hold the structure together.
Above: A view of the finished fence & gate. Because we had so many volunteers (a record equalling 18 of us in total during my (Ed Green) time with BTCV – just over 2 years) we dug over some of the ground in preparation for wildflower plug plants/seeds.
Above: A view of the benches we made. We used offcuts of unused/spare boards found in the school shed for the seat. Logs obtained for free by a teacher from trees (that had already been cut down for good conservation reasons!) were used to provide the support. The closer bench is higher than (and seperate to) the others because it is for the teachers – the smaller ones obviously being for the children. We constructed these benches under the trees deliberately so that they would be in shade for most of the day.