Submariners dig deep to transform school garden
Submariners ditched their high-tech machinery in exchange for a trowel and shovel to help transform a school garden in Devon.
The environmental area at Bere Alston Primary School's has been turned into a usable and wildlife-friendly space that the whole school can enjoy.
Nigel Shirlow, husband of school secretary Marianne, headed up the team of submariner combat systems engineers from HM Naval Base Devonport, Plymouth.
He said: "We have quiet spells between trips so I asked if we could adopt the school garden as our team project – the first time we have volunteered as a group – and my superiors were happy to agree." The environmental garden was created in 1997 but as pupil numbers and the garden both grew, it became less and less usable. Work was initially begun on the garden by other volunteers – but it suffered a setback when vandals threw a picnic table into the pond, puncturing the liner so the water drained away.
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That is when the submariners came to the rescue, standing in deep water, clearing out huge piles of muck, filth and grass before re-lining.
And rather than clearing the area completely and leaving frogs and toads homeless, the old liner was pulled back and trimmed so one part of the pond became a marshy area – deliberately producing a combination of habitats.
"This sort of work has been a real first for some of the guys as they work on sonar, radio and intricate electrical equipment," Nigel added.
"It's been really good to get to grips with some more physically challenging work."
Comments
by CharlieDodd
Wednesday, November 28 2012, 1:32AM
“A sub ran aground in the Red Sea a few years ago-
FIRST OFFICER- "Helmsman, hold her steady on this course at 200 feet"
HELMSMAN- "Aye sir"
Crunch!!!
FIRST OFFICER- "Drat, who put that seamount there? Alright helmsman, try to ease her off gently and maybe nobody will notice"
CAPTAIN (woken up and emerging bleary-eyed from his cabin)-"What was that?"
FIRST OFFICER- "What was what sir?”
by dsteel
Wednesday, November 28 2012, 12:50AM
“And I know for a fact you're wrong. But at the end of the day you're entitled to your opinion no matter how wrong it is.”
by Mark2Plym
Tuesday, November 27 2012, 11:38PM
“dsteel - I worked for the navy on submarines for 30 years. I know how much they earn, perhaps he was abit mean with your pocket money or are you still getting it?”
by dsteel
Tuesday, November 27 2012, 6:24PM
“You're an idiot Mark2Plym who has no idea what you're on about. My dad happens to be one of those men and he earns nowhere near £60,000 a year. I'm also going to make a huge assumption, my dad has made a bigger contribution to this country in his 21 years of service than you will ever make.”
by CharlieDodd
Tuesday, November 27 2012, 12:20AM
“..'one part of the pond became a marshy area rather than leaving frogs and toads homeless'..
Frog 1- "What'd we have done if we'd been left high dry and homeless?"
Frog 2- "Croak"”
by Mark2Plym
Tuesday, November 27 2012, 12:06AM
“Good to see the Navy helping out when they have no work! 60k plus a year for digging ponds tax payers money well used again!”