View Full Version : Frozen Thurso Boating Pond
dancingtaz13
11-Jan-10, 23:22
Is this safe enough to walk on does anyone know?
Just curious as there were kids on it end of last week cycling on it!!! :(
Another accident waiting to happen?
Saw someone walking on it on Sunday. I agree an accident waiting to happen!
There have been LOADS of folk on the ice there - kids on bikes, people with dogs, and even adults with toddlers(?!!!!!)
But no, it's not actually safe unless you're clever enough to stay where the ice is more than 4 inches thick. And as the end of the pond near the mill is still wet water, there must be areas where the ice is too thin nearer that and possibly elsewhere. I won't let my dog or my kids go on it - it'd have to be shallower to freeze properly, I think. Bah humbug!
That said, when we were kids and the pond was partly emptied in the winter, it did make a great ice-rink in the cold weather and it was safe. Maybe next time we're expecting a freeze the council could do whatever it is they do to regulate the water level and empty the pond to a few inches and we could ALL go skating! Yay!:D
Turquoise
11-Jan-10, 23:44
I remember walking on it years ago but I was very cautious and in retrospect, I probably wouldn't!! I very much like Tootler's idea of getting the Council telt to drain it a bit so we can have a bit of fun :D
Mind you, the water being at the current level it is maybe covers up the nasties lying at the bottom :eek:
flowertot
11-Jan-10, 23:50
The two islands are full of rats! We were on the pond during the summer and saw several swimming from the island up near the jetty to the bank. I was worried because thats where the boats were tied up at nightso the chances are the disease ridden vermin are climbing all over the boats an urinating! i wouldn't let my bairn within a 100 yards of the place to be honest
Turquoise
11-Jan-10, 23:55
I had my suspicions that it was a ratty paradise and that has most definitely put me right off.
I HATE rats they gie me 'e heebie jeebies!!!!!!!!
annemarie482
12-Jan-10, 00:10
hope this thread doesnt encourage some idiot to go try!
IS NO-NE WATCHING THE NEWS THE LAST FEW WEEKS!
umpteen folk of all ages fae all over dead from falling through the ice.
nope, i say if it aint an indoor ice rink, dont even try it.:roll:
annemarie482
12-Jan-10, 00:11
besides there's enough ice on most pavements to skate! lol :lol:
Turquoise
12-Jan-10, 00:22
hope this thread doesnt encourage some idiot to go try!
IS NO-NE WATCHING THE NEWS THE LAST FEW WEEKS!
umpteen folk of all ages fae all over dead from falling through the ice.
nope, i say if it aint an indoor ice rink, dont even try it.:roll:
I think between the rats and inevitable death, there's plenty to put off everyone...
ShelleyCowie
12-Jan-10, 00:25
I think anyone even considering going near it should have their head checked! Its clearly dangerous, accidents have happened there before. And yes as most have already stated its not exactly clean!
In the Autumn i took athrun down to feed the ducks and to be honest looking at the pond i was surprised a duck didnt jump out with antlers and a big bushy tail shouting at me due to mutation (no ducks were harmed) lol.
Metalattakk
12-Jan-10, 01:37
Hmmm, there's an awful lot of knee-jerking going on in this thread.
Face it, the boating pond is less than three feet deep. Fall through the ice and guess what, you stand up and get out bloody quick.
Nobody is going to die. :roll:
hope this thread doesnt encourage some idiot to go try!
IS NO-NE WATCHING THE NEWS THE LAST FEW WEEKS!
umpteen folk of all ages fae all over dead from falling through the ice.
nope, i say if it aint an indoor ice rink, dont even try it.:roll:
Have to agree with you...........not safe at all.
Hmmm, there's an awful lot of knee-jerking going on in this thread.
Face it, the boating pond is less than three feet deep. Fall through the ice and guess what, you stand up and get out bloody quick.
Nobody is going to die. :roll:
You might get a little kid playing on it and it depends how you fall in you can still go under the ice that pond should have been drained ages ago that is a safety issue
igglepiggle
12-Jan-10, 10:21
There has been on the news that kids drown in ponds etc before, this is no difference, especially with the ice on top, if you dont come up the same way you went in then it can be fatal. And in the freezing cold conditions. i would never let my children on them, But saying that you never know where you children are 24/7 and dont know what they are up to. I agree with the the pond being drained, i havent been there in ages, i thought there was going to be a new development happening there?
They must be nuts :O sooo dangerous, just take for you to fall and hit your head and go under.....
More crazy people been going on Watten loch with quad bikes pulling sledges.....
Best to stay clear of any lochs etc in this weather its a accident waiting to happen.
Katy x
I must say as kids it was the first place we went when it froze and many hours were spent playing on it. I only remember one person going through it and he was jumping up and down shouting I am gonna break it!!!!!!!!! Funny at the time and at MA says my god he got home quick.
That said though I am more concerned over whats at the bottom these days and would not be too happy for my kid to be on it, I remember my grandad telling me about the ice fairs they used to have on the river many years ago when it froze over.
They must be nuts :O sooo dangerous, just take for you to fall and hit your head and go under.....
More crazy people been going on Watten loch with quad bikes pulling sledges.....
Best to stay clear of any lochs etc in this weather its a accident waiting to happen.
Katy x
Wise words........do not know which planet these silly folk are from.......there have been several reports of people/animals falling through frozen water and dying.:(
Remember back in the 80's, as a fire-fighter, being called out to a person who had fallen through ice.. the woman had been taking her dog for a walk through Arrow Valley in Redditch, the dog had run onto the ice-covered Arrow Valley Lake, seems it had run across the lake (about 50 yards wide at this point) and had fallen through the thin ice by reeds.
The woman attempted to walk across to help her dog, but fell through some 20 feet out. This was seen by others and we were called.
On arrival we found (of course) the dog running around yapping, wagging it's tail. there was a hole in the ice where the woman had gone in, the surface covered with bits of wood and branches where other souls had tried to help.. we rigged a ladder and using that our lightest bloke crawled out, she was nowhere near the hole; found her floating under the ice yards away - her parker holding her up against surface..
Nothing new there, still a regular occurrence.. adults know the danger. Kids really are not aware, I know when I was a kid, a gang of us used to play on a frozen 'pond' - although in realty it was the big drainage pond for the village sewerage system..
Kids dont realise the dangers of walking on frozen ponds etc so its up to us to teach them,I remember when I was a child a child went through the ice and drowned and I have never forgotten it!I am always telling my kids not to go on any frozen water anywhere as it is just too dangerous-oh and they know that if they did the last thing they would have to worry about is the ice its me they would have to worry about when I caught them! ;) x
Hmmm, there's an awful lot of knee-jerking going on in this thread.
Face it, the boating pond is less than three feet deep. Fall through the ice and guess what, you stand up and get out bloody quick.
Nobody is going to die. :roll:
Have to agree with metalhead here, cotton wool springs to mind here, wrap em up and keep them inside if you want to make sure there safe.
More chance of hurting yourself at the play park.
Have to agree with metalhead here, cotton wool springs to mind here, wrap em up and keep them inside if you want to make sure there safe.
More chance of hurting yourself at the play park.
SURELY,there is nothing wrong with trying to keep kids safe........I would not even let my dogs near any thing like this.U can be hurt anywhere..........so please do not be soooooooooo flippant about sacred life.[disgust]
Metalattakk
12-Jan-10, 13:42
SURELY,there is nothing wrong with trying to keep kids safe........
Nope, nothing wrong with that.
But, surely there's something wrong with over-protecting your kids to the extent that they are never allowed to experience the world around them, never allowed to learn from that experience?
For crying out loud, let the bairns be bairns. It's how they learn.
onecalledk
12-Jan-10, 13:57
hi
learning by drowning would be a hard lesson would it not for said child? When i was younger we used to go and play on the pond in the estate where lived, island in the middle, thick mud to get to it etc etc, its been drained now, years ago they drained it. Just because we played there and mucked about DIDNT mean it was safe, it meant we were lucky enough not to have something happen to us!
Whilst i agree to a certain extent that kids these days are more "cotton wool"ed the world is not as it was when we were young. There are different dangers for them now.
You can drown in as little as an inch of water so it would make little sense to go on a frozen pond ! if you fell face down in a puddle and couldnt get up you could drown, depth is not a measure of danger......
K
its not the kids we should be worried about methinks ....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8454242.stm
Of course everyone want to keep there kids safe. I grew up with a huge forrest, river, beach and very dangerous rocks 7 cliffs to play in as a kid, theres, i had a few close shaves while climbing, make shift abseiling and a crazy idea for a zip line that ended with my brother waist deep in the river.
I am so glad i had that at my door step, would class myself as a minor adrenaline junkie, adventure made my growing up exciting.
Would you stop your kid from playing in a forest ? at the beach ? climbing rocks ?
If you would, then you need help yourself, to let go and let them play and learn from there fortunes and mi-fortunes. In my view being an over protective parent has consiquess for there kids. Am sure i have said most of this already to i leave it there.
Take it or leave it, it's my opinion
I defo don't wrap my 2 up in cotton wool and I think playing and learning new things is great but certainly not playing on a ice covered lake/pond/river that is just dangerous and stupid!
My eldest girl horse rides and my youngest who is only 2 and a half is getting into it as well - they think it is great fun and that can be classed as a dangerous sport too at times....they have my support with horseriding but I wouldna be encouraging them to go off out on a frozen lake so they can learn by there mistakes :O
Kxx
plasticjock
12-Jan-10, 15:13
Of course everyone want to keep there kids safe. I grew up with a huge forrest, river, beach and very dangerous rocks 7 cliffs to play in as a kid, theres, i had a few close shaves while climbing, make shift abseiling and a crazy idea for a zip line that ended with my brother waist deep in the river.
I am so glad i had that at my door step, would class myself as a minor adrenaline junkie, adventure made my growing up exciting.
Would you stop your kid from playing in a forest ? at the beach ? climbing rocks ?
If you would, then you need help yourself, to let go and let them play and learn from there fortunes and mi-fortunes. In my view being an over protective parent has consiquess for there kids. Am sure i have said most of this already to i leave it there.
Take it or leave it, it's my opinion
Well, I'm with you on this. Kids are adventurous by nature. It's part of growing up rather like when me and my mate used to play on the rafters of the houses on Mount Pleasant that were being built at the rear of what became Collett-MacPherson's, back in the early sixties. We used to come home with the inside of our thighs scraped raw where we'd slid when crossing the rough-hewn rafters.
I also used to cross the frozen boating pond on my way home from the Miller when I was a nipper. Went through the ice a couple of times. Only learned my lesson when the ice scraped my knees above my wellies and my Dad got really annoyed cause I'd ruined a virtually new pair of wellies with blood.
Kids dont realise the dangers of walking on frozen ponds etc so its up to us to teach them,I remember when I was a child a child went through the ice and drowned and I have never forgotten it!I am always telling my kids not to go on any frozen water anywhere as it is just too dangerous-oh and they know that if they did the last thing they would have to worry about is the ice its me they would have to worry about when I caught them! ;) x
Good one thumper:):lol:
Turquoise
12-Jan-10, 16:13
Of course everyone want to keep there kids safe. I grew up with a huge forrest, river, beach and very dangerous rocks 7 cliffs to play in as a kid, theres, i had a few close shaves while climbing, make shift abseiling and a crazy idea for a zip line that ended with my brother waist deep in the river.
I am so glad i had that at my door step, would class myself as a minor adrenaline junkie, adventure made my growing up exciting.
Would you stop your kid from playing in a forest ? at the beach ? climbing rocks ?
Well yes, I understand your point here.
I used to fish for tadpoles in the quarries when I was a bairn and shimmy round cliff edges there. I thought my parents were real stick-in-the-muds for telling me not to.
It petrifies me to think of bairns playing there now and I could easily have slipped in the water and drowned. Therefore, I would not hesitate to tell my kids not to...
overthewallandfaraway
12-Jan-10, 16:58
Is this safe enough to walk on does anyone know?
Just curious as there were kids on it end of last week cycling on it!!! :(
Another accident waiting to happen?
Lets think about this.....is it ever safe to walk on......? [disgust]
Nope, nothing wrong with that.
But, surely there's something wrong with over-protecting your kids to the extent that they are never allowed to experience the world around them, never allowed to learn from that experience?
For crying out loud, let the bairns be bairns. It's how they learn.
I agree that chidren should be allowed to play out a lot more like I did...........much better for them.I never wanted to go indoors and the tv was very restricted for us[remember ,no programmes until 5 pm???........... ]
I probably would have gone on to frozen water as well as I skated every week at the local rink,but I never did.Just think we should play safe with ice.
I do think children are allowed to spend far too much time on computers etc.Not healthy.....God help them in 20 years time or less.The price for this will have to be paid.:(
Turquoise
12-Jan-10, 17:54
I do think children are allowed to spend far too much time on computers etc.Not healthy.....God help them in 20 years time or less.The price for this will have to be paid.:(
God help them indeed BINBOB...they may find themselves on Caithness.org, glued to the screen...
Metalattakk
12-Jan-10, 17:57
I probably would have gone on to frozen water as well as I skated every week at the local rink,but I never did.Just think we should play safe with ice.
Ok, so in your childish wisdom you chose not to go on the ice. Can you not afford the same choice to your own children, or do you not trust them to make the sensible decision?
So if folk don't know where their kids are and the pond should be drained because it's dangerous, shouldn't we take all the cars off the roads then?
God help them indeed BINBOB...they may find themselves on Caithness.org, glued to the screen...
A fate worse than death............:lol::roll:[lol]
Ok, so in your childish wisdom you chose not to go on the ice. Can you not afford the same choice to your own children, or do you not trust them to make the sensible decision?
Do not have any children...........but I only did not go on the frozen water as a child as I was well warned of the dangers and the punishment.........if I broke the rules.Of course ,I was lucky to get through childhood with no major accidents[ sometimes wonder how!!!]
Surely u are not advocating that LET KIDS DO AS THEY WISH.........never mind the consequences??????:roll:Guidelines and boundaries have to be given.....falling through ice is totally preventable......do not go on it in first place!!!!;)
Metalattakk
13-Jan-10, 14:59
Surely u are not advocating that LET KIDS DO AS THEY WISH.........never mind the consequences??????:roll:Guidelines and boundaries have to be given.....falling through ice is totally preventable......do not go on it in first place!!!!;)
Classic knee-jerk reaction. Congrats, the justification for the existence of Daily Mail headline writers has been secured.
Classic knee-jerk reaction. Congrats, the justification for the existence of Daily Mail headline writers has been secured.
That has been one of the most ill thought out crappiest replys I have ever seen you make.An you have made some.I am not even going to try unravelling it for you,coming from someone with your intelligence,-you must be on something--Just my thoughts plums.
Metalattakk
13-Jan-10, 16:10
That has been one of the most ill thought out crappiest replys I have ever seen you make.An you have made some.I am not even going to try unravelling it for you,coming from someone with your intelligence,-you must be on something--Just my thoughts plums.
Ooh, another knee-jerker is on board.
Come on then Einstein - show your workings to back up your spurious claims. Or, just shut up, eh?
The gauntlet has been thrown. [lol]
thinking about walking on the pond in my opinion is complete madness,how do you know how thick it is?
Do u mean,upolian,it might not be thick enough to play safely on??????????
changilass
13-Jan-10, 19:51
Don't care how much he has wound you up, I think this is totally out of order.
What the hell has his kids done to you.
That has been one of the most ill thought out crappiest replys I have ever seen you make.An you have made some.I am not even going to try unravelling it for you,coming from someone with your intelligence,-you must be on something--Just my thoughts plums.
I am with u on this one....;)
THe WHOLE point in this matter is that even if the boating pond is only a few feet deep how on earth can anyone advocate letting kids on it when the next time it may be a pond that is 15 feet deep!Kids learn by example and allowing them to go on one thing then saying no to others confuses it-the kid just thinks "well it was ok on the boating pond so its ok on Loch Watten or wherever" so IMO its daft to allow them on ANY frozen water full stop!x
annemarie482
13-Jan-10, 20:07
think its time this thread shut.
[quote=changilass;644516]Don't care how much he has wound you up, I think this is totally out of order.
Absolutely no more to say on this subject............FIN.;)
Do u mean,upolian,it might not be thick enough to play safely on??????????
yes.....and why would anybody risk it besides the fact your not sure if its thick enough?personally i wouldnt care if it was 3foot thick with ice, its not a designated area to play on hence why its called a 'boating pond' not a wait until it freezes and risk your life pond
Metalattakk
13-Jan-10, 21:38
THe WHOLE point in this matter is that even if the boating pond is only a few feet deep how on earth can anyone advocate letting kids on it when the next time it may be a pond that is 15 feet deep!Kids learn by example and allowing them to go on one thing then saying no to others confuses it-the kid just thinks "well it was ok on the boating pond so its ok on Loch Watten or wherever" so IMO its daft to allow them on ANY frozen water full stop!x
In my opinion, it's daft to not credit your own kids with the common sense to know the difference between the boating pond and Loch Watten.
Too much cotton wool stunts the development and growth of children. How are they supposed to learn anything if they're not allowed to learn from experience?
Give your kids some credit, for crying out loud. :(
I give my kids lots of credit and they know not to walk on ice no matter what,but younger kids wouldnt know and its a pretty drastic way of learning by drowning or almost drowning isnt it?The is a limit to what you should allow your child to do,if there wasnt the whole country would be in bedlam,and then there is also the fact that if we do allow our kids to experiment we get poeple moaning about our kids being unsupervised so its a case of damned if you do and damned if you dont x
Pardon me not replying to your earlier,family matters intruded. An then the Liverpool v reading scrap--Bloody reds got one in the dying death of the 1st half.
Where were we --Oh yea some dipstick championing the needs for kids to go out on ice covered water as a need to find themselves!
I know I did all that as a bairn myself-but now as a mannie wie long trousers an hopefully a few more brain cells,I would not hope to be countenanced for advancing the thought that said afore mentioned activity is pigging well, well dangerous.An as you take the opposite view, I can't go along with or consider your stance.No offence meant but I think you are talking(was going to say tripe)but that is not strong enough,an I will get zapped again if I say what I really feel!
Know that is not enough, but it is how I feel.
Metalattakk
13-Jan-10, 22:16
<snip> Oh yea some dipstick championing the needs for kids to go out on ice covered water as a need to find themselves! </snip>
I think you'll find that no-one said anything of the sort. But then, your jerky knee seems to be over-riding your sense of reason. No offence intended, of course. :Razz
I do have a dodgy knee,but it has no relevance at all to my comments on posters on this site,to my mind -iv'e lost the thread-couldna' have been much to it.
An your post 32 says it for me.
Metalattakk
13-Jan-10, 23:12
An your post 32 says it for me.
Maybe you should just concentrate on the football - Reading now winning 1-2 well into second half of extra-time. Come on the Royals! ;)
Aye I do have my head down,an the reds got their arse whipped.Bit like yourself.
Metalattakk
14-Jan-10, 00:00
Aye I do have my head down,an the reds got their arse whipped.Bit like yourself.
I don't think for a second that you have the wherewithal to hold a whip, never mind use it. But of course that's just my opinion. ;)
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.