Shropshire and Staffordshire National Trust Volunteers

Workday leader Mags reports:

…paraphrasing Ed Harris (as Gene Kranz) in the film Apollo 13:

We’ve never lost a Volunteer in water, we’re sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch!

And thankfully, a full complement of volunteers made it to the end of the day – well just about!

Having been postponed from a fortnight earlier, when the levels in the waterways at Shugborough were too high, on Sunday SSNTV were able to don waders, get into the water and sink into the mud, in order to pull out patches of reeds behind the Chinese House and along the bank behind the Mansion and clear various overgrown shrubs from the edges by the bridge.

The water levels may have been lower, but the mud was just as deep!

… even for those prepared to wade up to their chests in the water …

It was a day for the tall members of the group, as the combination of deep mud, or the positions of the nuisance reeds in the middle of the flow mean that “shorties” didn’t risk going far from the bank for fear of something overtopping the waterproofs. For the others, the risk – which materialised several times – became the likelihood of getting well and truly stuck in the dark black goo’, which pulling the reeds from the bottom only generated more of.

NT visitors definitely got their entertainment value from the group this weekend!

As work came to a close and the waters started to clear – improvements were definitely visible.

The swans had also already taken up residence again in the areas the Group had de-reeded.

Hence, I realised what essential tool we were missing for this workday ….. WEBBED FEET.