Flintham Explorers Weave a New Fence - May 2008
On a very wet Sunday in May four intrepid Explorers set about making a living fence to protect the folks of 
Flintham from slipping into the Dew pond. In January a larger group of Explorers had cleared the pond of weeds and barley bails.
First a trench had to be dug about a foot deep and a foot wide close to the edge of the pond – sounds easy? well it wasn’t because the ground was full of debris; stones, bricks, old pots, glass, and even paving slabs! These all had to be removed by hand.
Black porous matting was then dug in the ditch to stop the weeds giving the willow a chance to grow.
Holes were made for the fencing stakes to be driven into the ground; these would give edges to the willow fence design. Evenly spaced holes were cut into matting ready for the living willow.
Now the fun bit of planting the willow. Annette (the instructor) had come up with a fence design that required diagonal planting. We had a panel each to plant.
Then you had to tie the willow where it crossed to form diamonds, still sounds easy? Then tie the willow into the support stakes; bend the tops to bring all the ends together to form a peak and finally cut stakes down, stand back and admire.
