End of Summer Update

It has been a busier Summer than usual. While we have in the past accepted that August is a quiet month with many volunteers on holiday we have received requests for support and have responded. Hamble Parish Council asked us to help them with the annual renovation of the benches on the Hamble foreshore. These seats are very popular with the public and although robust needed revarnishing after a wet Winter and Spring. A large team of volunteers sanded down all of the seats and then applied a coat of varnish. The outcome was both pleasing to the eye and ensured that the seats are available to the public for many years to come.

Another seasonal task was to help Eastleigh Borough Council with the control of ragwort on the cattle grazing areas of Hamble Common. Ragwort is potentially lethal to cattle and horses and its removal from a wild meadow is problematic as there is no selective weed killer for it and mowing would merely encourage its rapid growth. Using purpose made forks we were able to extract the ragwort with its roots intact. It will be back no doubt but at least we are reducing the risk to cattle which play a crucial part in maintaining the Common naturally.

We were also able to respond to a request to clean up St Andrews church which is awaiting the arrival of a new vicar and carried out the annual repaint of the historic Bofor anti-aircraft gun which is sited in Hamble Point car park. Above all the unrelenting task of removing litter from Hamble and its beaches continued either by groups of volunteers or individuals.