A “very angry” Leeds woman decided to jump into her local fishpond to remove all the foul rubbish people had chucked in there, including a 'hideous' doll.
Amanda Murray Hind, 51, tied a rope around her waist and waded “up to her neck” into Farnley Hall Fish Pond, off Butt Lane. Her husband Paul Hind, 58, held on to the other end of the rope on Saturday, April 1.
The couple had become “distressed” at constantly seeing the once beautiful nature reserve become neglected so badly. They found numerous foul and “unnerving" items in the depths of the pond.
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These included a “hideous witchcraft doll”, a wheelie bin dumped, six traffic cones, tubing, a computer harddrive, a child's swing and a shopping trolley, and say there is plenty more yet to be discovered. The pair have hit out at teenagers who walk through the nature spot and have called for a bin to be installed by Leeds City Council.
The couple, who have four children, moved to a house close to the pond in October. They moved there specifically to be close to the pond so they could walk their now late dog around it.
Amanda, who works as a hospital’s assistant manager, said: “I’ve always been brought up to take litter home and throw it in the bin. So every time we walked around the pond I was saying ‘Ah, look at those cones! That wheelie bin! I can’t believe it!’ So, I decided to sort it out.
“It’s frustrating that other people just don’t care or haven’t been brought up in a way to know to look after their environment. There’s one dog refuse bin by the entrance and one time someone had taken the bin bag out and thrown it into the water.
“So I had to take a stick from the side of the water and get it back out and back in the bin. It’s like they’ll find any stupid thing to do. I never did c*** like that when I was a teenager.”
'Very angry'
Paul, a semi-retired probation engineer, said: “Our house looks on to the pond and it was disgusting. When I grew up here as a young land, it was a match fishing pond and quite a well-known place.
“Now it’s full of bins, rubbish and traffic cones and all sorts. It’s quite distressing to see. And all around the pond there was cans and bottles, it was just filthy.
“It certainly made my wife feel angry (I’m a little bit more placid than my wife), she was very angry indeed. It was upsetting to see such a beautiful place treated like a tip. A lot of it is from the kids in a local school on their way home who walk through the pond area, sit there and throw their rubbish.”
Paul admitted that Amanda is “a lot braver”, plus he has bad arthritis, so she took the plunge rather than him. She removed every rubbish item that was “floating on the surface” but there’s still lots more to clean up.
Paul said: “We found the doll and thought ‘oh no!’ Amanda prodded it and saw it was this really hideous witchcraft doll. It was quite unnerving.
“Our friend Rick found a computer hard drive which is quite interesting. Someone had thrown it into the middle of the lake. Unfortunately, it was too far gone to have a look what was on it – as it could have been something ‘interesting’.”
Amanda added: “When I looked at the doll, I went ‘ugh’ as I thought it was a carcass for second. It was a little creepy.
They now want Leeds City Council to come with a dredger or a mechanical digger. Paul said it’s “created a little bit of a movement” with their friends and residents now joining in to litter pick.
A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: “We welcome feedback about the parks and green spaces that we manage so we can address any specific concerns.
“With regards to this particular case, we are aware of the challenges relating to litter at Farnley fish pond. The council is considering options for the de-silting of the pond in an environmentally-responsible way which will help manage this issue moving forward.
“We always encourage people to report incidents or issues regarding litter and the dumping of rubbish in parks so we are able to respond accordingly. Our teams can be contacted at parks@leeds.gov.uk.
“Volunteer groups and organisations who wish to support our work in this area are also encouraged to contact the council. Once contact has been made, we will then look at how their requests might be accommodated.”
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