BOLDON FLATS REPAIRS 20-11-10

A couple of weeks ago the Group made the decision to replace the old wooden sluice gate at Boldon Flats, as it had become rotten and damaged over the years. Because of this it was decided to try a new metal gate, so Dougie kindly knocked one up in his spare time and he, Steve and John Brown put it in last week. Unfortunately, it seems the power and strength of the water was a touch underestimated and the metal gate had slightly buckled under the weight and pressure of the water. This meant that a lot more water was flowing out than should be, and the Group had to work fast to stem it. Because its late in the season and the water level is so high there's no chance we could take the gate out to repair the damage and strengthen the gate, all we could do for the time being was 'plug up' the gaps and strengthen & support the gate either side with sandbags. So we used some of the Groups funds to buy a load of sand and spent an hour or so putting it in place and shoring things up. It seems to have worked perfectly! We hung around for a while afterwards just to make sure it didnt fall apart or anything but it seemed to be perfectly fine. Hopefully it'll do the job over the winter until we can get in and properly repair the gate itself.