Kinsmen revamp banks under Lake Lisgar bridge

Volunteers with the Kinsmen Club have been working under the Lake Lisgar bridge to reinforce the banks. The first step for this was to remove the old timbers with an excavator and then get the new timbers into place. (Contributed Photo).

Pat Carroll, Post Contributor

The Kinsmen Club of Tillsonburg recently made good on a previous pledge to Frank Kempf of the Lake Lisgar Revitalization Project to restore both banks of the lake under the Kinsmen/Hawkins Bridge.

The club secured the necessary timbers, a donation from Triple M Demolition who were working to remove the Kinsmen Bridge over Participark .The timbers were to be used to create new walls to stabilize the banks.

Kinsmen Pat Carroll and Walt Ellenberger, supported by Frank on the Kinship 1 barge, unloaded the timbers at the boat ramp and floated them up to the work location.

They were then joined by George Mills of Greenline Earthworks who used some real agility on a mini excavator (provided by East Elgin Concrete Forming) to work his way down the steep incline on the east side of the bridge.

There he was able to excavate a pathway parallel to the water’s edge to dig out the old logs and place the new timbers. They were drilled and secured with rebar and tension bars into the soil before the installation of filter cloth and backfilling.

Kinsmen’s projects are always supported by companies in town. Some of the equipment used was provided by 3E Power Services and Tillsonburg Equipment Centre. The surplus rebar used was provided to the club by the Periscope Playhouse in Port Burwell.

The following day, the Kin crew tackled the west side and were re-enforced by new member Graham Griffiths. This day the mini ex was operated by Nick Nagy from Greenline, and he also created a pathway for the machine to the bottom.

Again, a track to safely operate the mini had to be excavated into the hill while the club members cleared the foliage and brush before a starting point for the timbers could established. Some extra cutting and fitting around the corners was required on this side. It was a long day but gratifying for the club members for a job well done.

Before the tools were even packed away in the trucks, the kids were asking if it was okay to use the new fishing platforms.

Greenline Earthworks and EECF are to return to the lake to re-establish the stone covering and create suitable pathways for the anglers to access the new 50-foot fishing benches formed by the timbers.