WORLD WETLANDS DAY GEESE EVENT

Cilla Bromley of GEESE reports on an energetic clean-up effort in the Glencairn wetlands on World Wetlands Day:

Our day began at 9 and ended some ten hours later, with an interval for lunch and refurbishment! We concentrated our efforts on the triangle of land in front of the Southern Right Hotel, Glencairn, through which the Els River passes. Our aim was twofold. One to collect up all the rubbish and two, to start clearing the Typha from that stretch of the Els River, below the Glen Road bridge. There was a splendid turn out of GEESE (Glencairn Education & Environmental Support Enthusiasts) and their friends - including Philipppa and Lloyd Huntly - ranging from under 5s to over 70s.

Armed with forks, saws, secateurs, shears, boots, and donkeys (the canvas kind) and the such like, we worked for a couple of hours. Two trailer loads of rubbish were taken to the dump and the mountain of cut Typha was removed by City Parks people the next day. The noise, laughter, mud and comraderie said it all! Then we retreated to the Southern Right Hotel where we were treated to tea, coffee and delicious sandwiches, followed by a presentation from Paul Jaques on what the old water mill up river would have been like.

Thanks to his computer skills it was graphically brought alive. In the afternoon, we inspected the ruins before walking down along the Els River back to the hotel for further refreshments. The evening ended with a most generous donation of R1,500 by the hotel to GEESE for our partnership in helping to keep the Vlei looking good, clean and healthy.