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Queensmead Playground Gets A New Coat – of Paint

On a rather overcast day several volunteers from Foresters Financial, a company based in central Bromley, gave up their time to repaint some existing play furniture. While much of the existing play equipment will be replaced as part of the refurbishment project these items will be refurbished and retained.

After carefully cleaning the metalwork, and then painting it with primer, they finished off with a lovely coat of green paint. Some small parts were also painted black. A much improved look indeed, which will be appreciated by local children.

Their efforts follow on from a previous session, in which they volunteered to clean and paint the inside of the sports pavilion nearby. This has made that space much better for local children’s football club AFC Shortlands.

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Glassmill Pond: Further Progress

Since I last posted on this topic, things have moved along with the construction of the new improved river channel. Much silt/mud continues to be moved around, as can be seen below.

The contractor has installed posts at regular intervals, then attached both a membrane and a hessian layer to retain the river banks, while allowing for plants to grow on the bank areas. Gravel has been laid in the bottom of the channel, with larger rocks being added later to break up the water flow in ‘riffles’ which will help oxygenate the water, along with fish, etc. This is illustrated in the following Thames21 drawings.

While there has been some minor delays in the project timescales it is expected that progress, subject to adverse rainfall conditions, will now improve. Once this channel has been completed then work can commence on recreating the pond area.

Watch out for further updates to this exciting project……

Learn more about the background to this project HERE

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Big changes on Glassmill

In the last week a lot has changed here with a large channel being dug out, adjacent to the footpath. The river flow has now been diverted down this channel, which will allow work to start on creating an enhanced ‘official’ river channel on the opposite side. A long bank, or bund, will then separate the river channel from the open pond area.

Over twenty years worth of silt has so far been dug out to create this channel. While it looks messy at present it should soon start to look a lot better. The work is scheduled to take about a month.

You can find more about the background of this on our Glassmill Pond Restoration Project page

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LTA funded refurbishment of the tennis courts.

This is work in Church House Gardens, started on 9 August and could take several weeks to complete. This is part of a wider Lawn Tennis Association scheme agreed with Bromley council,  to upgrade several tennis courts around the borough. After refurbishment, access will be charged and users will need to book. It is understood that a number of free sessions will also be available. For more information please go HERE.

These courts have been in need of an upgrade for some time, as can be seen in the photo below.

Only the three tennis courts are involved in this project. The adjacent basketball court will remain unchanged. Some of the equipment in the nearby skateboard park is due to be repaired later in the month.

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Monitoring pollution on the Ravensbourne

Thames21 recently installed a water quality monitoring device on Glassmill Pond. This will be routinely measuring the Ravensbourne, as it flows into the pond, for various pollutants. This is part of a wider trial of such devices, and will be backed up by other regular testing.

This pond is a known ‘hot spot’ for pollution, arriving from upstream misconnections and illegal disposal of oil, etc down rainwater gullies. We continue to urge Thames Water and L.B.Bromley Environmental Health to identify and resolve such incidents.

On the day of water quality monitor installation, also spotted this pollution incident. This time it did not come down the main river channel, but from an outlet coming from the direction of the adjacent park and High Street. It looked as if the contaminant was a light (cooking?) oil, radiating out from the pipe outlet. The first photo was taken from the ramp, and second from above the outlet. It looked pretty, but was bad news!

This was later dispersed downstream after a period of rainfall. If you spot water pollution on this pond or elsewhere please report on Thames Water pollution hotline on 0800 316 9800 .