Grant helps Friends keep up the creek clean-up

THE Friends of Waurn Ponds Creek have an extremely useful bit of gear to help in their revegetation and cleanup works through a state government grant.

The small Landcare group, run by volunteers, conducts clean-up events, picks up litter and plants native vegetations along the creek.

In last year’s round of Community Support Fund grants, the Friends of Waurn Ponds Creek successfully applied for $1,687 to upgrade and outfit a trailer to store and carry their equipment.

Friends of Waurn Ponds Creek have been gathering and working on the creek reserve since the early 2000s, meeting twice a month to look after 12 kilometres of the waterway between Colac Road and Barwon Heads Road.

According to their application to the Community Support Fund, the Friends’ equipment is shared among several members who volunteer to store it in their garages or sheds.

“On most occasions this works quite efficiently. However, there have been occasions when one member is held up and work cannot start until they arrive with the equipment,” the application stated.

“When members who store equipment are away on holidays, their equipment has to be transferred to another garage or shed.

“Having a trailer to store all the equipment in one place means it all arrives at the work site together and transferring equipment from one member to another is made much more simple and avoids double-handling.”

Last week, Mr Cheeseman visited the Friends of Waurn Ponds Creek at Grovedale’s Brearley Reserve to see the trailer in action.

He said he worked closely with the group to acquire the grant, assisting them with their application and penning a letter of support to Treasurer Tim Pallas.

“It was fantastic to meet this group of dedicated volunteers again and talk about some of the great work they do to re-vegetate and replenish our beloved Waurn Ponds Creek,” Mr Cheeseman said.