Last week I had the best time opening the new Dipping Pond in St. Ann’s Well Gardens in Hove. The pond was built from the proceeds of previous events run by the community like the St. Ann’s Well Festival, and it was build by amazing volunteers under the stewardship of Pete the Pond, our local nature guru!
The pond allows children to use nets to scoop up a swath of local nature, study and learn from it, and see how much fun there is to be had in the great outdoors. Seeing their excitement at the opening and hearing the shrieks of joy as they discovered tadpoles and oxygenating pond plants (see, I learned something too!) was just the best fun.
As I said at the opening, things like this don’t happen by accident, they happen because local people and communities put huge amounts of effort, enthusiasm, and time into making it happen. I’m in awe of everyone that made this happen and I’m so grateful to you for asking me along to cut the ribbon to officially open your new pond to the community. I know this will provide years of fun and education and inspiration for generations to come. Yours, Peter