Last weekend, inspired by the packrat environmentally-friendly philosophy of never throwing anything away unless we can help it (and the sight of damper-than-usual volunteers sloshing around at recent cleanups) a small group of Wandle Trust regulars reckoned it was time to hold our first official wader patching party, and repair the worst of the leaks before the colder wind and water of winter arrive.

So how many volunteers does it really take to find a hole in a pair of leaky waders?

The answer, it seemed, was somewhere between three and five: two or three to hold up the waders whilst they fill with water, one to control the hose…

… and one to mark the punctures with correction fluid when the internal pressure suddenly starts them gushing:

Tested to destruction by the Wandle, two or three of the older pairs of waders had already turned into unrecoverable colanders, and we regretfully relegated them to the bin… but all our newer, steel-shanked models still seemed up to the task.

Whilst the survivors dripped on the washing line, Jo served us up a gourmet lunch of soup, bread, cheese and cake – and then it was out into the garden again with patches of inner-tube and heavy-duty glue.

The result: six good-as-new pairs of waders for our next cleanup (if they’re not, let us know, and we’ll have another go at them!)

Thanks to all our volunteers: Andy, Erica, Gideon, Jo, Sally and Theo

We’re still on the lookout for volunteers for this year’s Trout in the Classroom programme as well as our other volunteering activities. If you’d like to get involved, just drop us a line!