The Millpond pontoon workgroup
Published 09:21 on 2 Dec 2020
On Saturday morning an intrepid band of volunteers started work on the removal of the wooden pontoon which is to be replaced after long and successful service. The pontoon has served us well and goodness knows how many juniors have skipped over it on their way to a Martlets session. Latterly it has hosted the intense huddle of the radio sailors.
When asked earlier this year, Roger Bleasby (Commodore) and Ade Fox recounted their memory of paddling it across from Slipper. Yes, this was at least the second use the pontoon has been put to and despite ongoing maintenance, it has sadly reached the end of its life. Roger was on hand to take photographs and take comfort that the baton had been safely handed on.
The removal plan was just to take off the hardwood decking, both to make it easier to lift out the pontoon and also so that it could be re-used. Removal took just 60 minutes thanks to Mark Gardiner's expertise and David Edwards' strength with Simon Langford taking it all down to the Club for safe keeping - quite a pile!
So then we thought rather than getting a HIAB to lift out the whole structure we could do the work ourselves and save over a thousand pounds in the process. So, with Tim Keeping wielding his trusty chainsaw and Harry Thuillier cutting the steel tie bars, the work was completed in just a few hours.
Next, we had to lift the various parts out of the millpond without leaving any debris in the water. Here we relied on Roger Palmer and Mark Holliday and the rest of the crew as well as coffees and shortbread supplied by Chris and Lorraine Clode and also from Tony with Jane Mellor joining in the fun by providing superb homemade mince pie traybake.
It was a very productive day and it shows just how 'many hands make light work'. Some of the decking is at the Club for club members to claim if they have a good use for it. By the time you read this the main floats and structure should have been taken away by skip and of course disposed of correctly.
The replacement works will be completed over the winter with a new walkway onto the Versadock pontoon which was purchased last year and now added to as part of these works.
Thanks to all.
Harry Thuillier