Pals pool ideas for oasis
It could be a scene from a Monet painting but this tranquil pool is just a stone's throw from a West Midlands housing estate.
Wallington Heath Pool, in Bloxwich, with its water lilies beloved of the artist who took inspiration from the ones in his garden in France, is a prominent feature on the landscape.
The picturesque pool has become the focus of the Friends of Wallington Heath Pool who are embarking on a series of improvements at the site, which boasts an impressive selection of pond life and plants.
However, they have been hampered by the fact that a year-long clean-up operation is now needed because the pool has been re-infested with the New Zealand pigmyweed.
The pool is having to be drained and weed killer used to clear up the mess.
"It is the second time pigmyweed, which attacks plants and pond life, has been found at Wallington Heath.
Volunteers who have carried out a range of improvements at the site over the last few years have warned the pool may resemble little more than a swamp while treatment is carried out.
"The Friends have secured an Awards For All lottery grant to buy benches and a litter bin for when the clear-up is completed and a pipe allowing the control of the water supply has been put in place.
Chairman Beryl Davis said the Friends were committed to making sure one of the borough's most attractive features was fully restored, even though it will become a temporary mess. She said: "The pool will look unsightly over the next 12 months.
"It is to be treated with a weedkiller to try and get rid of the New Zealand pigmyweed that was introduced by mistake and is now taking over the pool.
"Over the last two years a lot of hard work has been done.
"The pool was dredged and plants were removed to do this and then put back. Unfortunately the weed has come back."
Wallington Heath Pool dates back to the 1870s and was initially used as a watering hole for horses bound for Cannock travelling from Walsall.
Restoration work at Wallington Heath Pool has been taking place for a number of years.
The problems with New Zealand Pigmyweed started a number of years ago.
They began when someone dropped the weed into the pool, according to campaigners. The Friends of Wallington Heath Pool have been trying to transform it using pictures and information from local sources on how it looked in the past.
