Clevedon Marine Lake is run by Marlens’ charity and its team of volunteers, who work hard year-round to maintain and develop this amazing space.
It costs £20,000 per annum to keep Clevedon Marine Lake open to the public.
£5,000 alone is required each year to dredge hundreds of tonnes of mud out of the lake, as part of a 10-year programme to remove 5,000 tonnes of mud from the lakebed. The mud is two feet deep in some areas having accumulated over the years, brought in by the overtopping tides from the Severn Estuary.
The initial application to remove mud from the lake cost £10,000. Marlens has secured permission from Marine Management Organisation to dredge the lake twice a year, in the autumn and spring, over the next decade – which began last year.
The lake was dredged in October 2019 where 400 tonnes of silt and mud was removed, and again in March 2020 with an estimated 750 tonnes of silt and mud removed from the bed of the lake. Until then, the last time any mud was removed from Clevedon Marine Lake was in the summer of 2015 as part of a major refurbishment.
It is important to ‘keep on top of the mud’ from now on – and with each dredge costing around £2,500, the entire project requires in excess of £60,000.
There are many ways in which you can Help us Help the Lake. Simply click on the link and explore how you can make a difference. And if you fancy something more immersive…
A great fundraising scheme which has been running for 3 years at Clevedon Marine Lake is the Polar Bear Challenge, thanks to organisers Hilary Jenkins-Spangler (pictured) and Gavin Price, members of Clevedon Lake & Sea Swimmers.
Every year during the winter months, November to March, lots of brave swimmers challenge themselves to swim regularly in the cold waters of Clevedon Marine Lake, incentivised by the Polar Bear Challenge. The challenge requires participants to swim a minimum of 100m twice a month. One way to rack up the required distance is a 100m circuit around the lake’s much-loved pontoon.
This season 2019-20, the Polar Bear Challenge raised close to £800 to support Marlens. Well done and thank you Clevedon Polar Bears for enjoying the cold water and making a difference!
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