A very quiet day at the village pond nearly 100 years ago – perhaps early morning. People today often say how nice it would be to have a village pond but, in reality, this was not picturesque. The problem is that there is no stream to refresh the water and so it was just like a huge puddle – drying up in the summer and flooding in heavy rain. You will see that there is not a blade of grass because the pond was used by farmers to wash carts and animals. It would probably have been smelly and prone to mosquitoes, bringing the risk of malaria, still known then in the Fens. Eventually the “pond” was filled in on public health grounds. Still… it would be nice.
June 2023
