MP hails new look at scene of horror attack

People living in the former mining village of Edlington, near Doncaster, had known the lake as the Brick Pond for many years and it had been popular with anglers.

Youngsters also played around the water but that changed when two young brothers living with council foster carers in Edlington chose it as a spot to attack two other young boys in April 2009.

The two brothers were given indeterminate sentences at Sheffield Crown Court for their crimes in January this year, and since then the community has struggled to recover from the incident.

Part of the effort to improve life for the village's residents has been the scheme to open up areas around the Brick Pond and give it a new name, which has been unveiled as Martinwells Lake.

Local councillors and community leaders said they felt there was a need to give people pride in their village after it suffered negative attention.

MP Caroline Flint and Edlington Councillor Elsie Butler joined walkers and volunteers who took part in the project on a walk from nearby Warmsworth to the lake to see the work that has taken place.

The walk began at the Yorkshire Main Community Centre, which was once part of the village's Yorkshire Main colliery and ended at the lake, via Warmsworth, where the volunteers who worked on the project enjoyed a barbecue.

Ms Flint said: "The access to this lake is almost unrecognisable compared to this time last year. The paths have been opened up, the steps provide a great view of the lake and the boardwalk has been renewed.

"It has been an excellent effort by Maureen Tennyson, Margaret Adamson, Mo Cantrill and all of the Friends of Martinwells Lake group.

"The Neighbourhood Manager, Trevor Heptinstall, and his team have been very supportive and this project is going from strength to strength."

A tender has now been issued for a fishing club to operate the licence to manage fishing.