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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Walpole’s Pond Management Committee (aka, Walpole Ponds) might not be the most recognized group in town, but their efforts are probably some of the most appreciated. Formed in 2010 with the sole purpose of reclaiming the ponds, the committee has achieved quite a bit in the past seven years with a minimal budget.
Recently, the Friends of St. Patrick made a donation of $500 to the Walpole Ponds in order for them to continue to do their fantastic work around town, which currently is focused on Memorial Pond.
“It’s filled up, it’s at its max. If we don’t do anything now, it’s going to become a swamp,” one member said about Memorial Pond. “It’s been 100 years of silt just filling up, so that’s the end result of all the small little ponds that trickle downhill. There’s little streams and that’s where it collects, and most of it is just basically sand and dirt rock from construction projects and stuff like that.” The pond was built in the 1920s as a gift to the town, memorializing World War I. Donnell Murphy, a member of the Friends of St. Patrick, recalled the old glory of the pond: “I remember skating on it when I was 10 years old! It used to be slammed - there used to be hundreds of people ice skating.” Built originally as a recreational pond for swimming, fishing, and ice skating in the winters, Walpole Ponds hope to be able to return it to its former glory.
Memorial Pond is the current focus of Walpole Ponds, but they have achieved a great amount over the past years. “In late 2010, we decided that maybe the lodge would be a great project to take on. We had no idea what we were up against,” Daniel Ryan, chairman of the committee recalled. “But in true volunteer fashion, we decided to open the lodge for skating at a very reasonable rate in the hopes to bring the town back to a Norman Rockwell-type winter setting. In the past seven years, many families have come to the lodge with their kids to learn how to skate as it was back in the 70s and 80s.”
The $500 donation from the Friends of St. Patrick went towards the purchasing of a number of hats, which are for sale at the lodge. “We had a box of 24 made a few weeks ago and they’re already gone, so this couldn’t have come at a perfect time,” Ryan said. “This donation bought us 30 more hats.” All of the proceeds go back into the town to help fund the dredging of Memorial Pond, as well as the continuation of the lodge and the skating it provides.
