A group of volunteers working day and night to keep the fish alive in Abbey Fields lake have thanked the support of local people in keeping them going.

Following multiple reports on social media about fish dying in the lake due to the hot weather, a group of residents took it upon themselves to start aerating the water around the park's duck feeding station on Friday (August 12).

And with many of them working through the night to keep the pumps going, they have thanked the people of Kenilworth for donations of food, drinks, money and tools.

Speaking to Nub News one of the volunteers Darren Rees said: "The community has been amazing. You will see around our base camp area it is all donations." 

He added: "We wouldn't have been able to do it without the help and support of the community.

"They have kept us fed, kept us watered.

"They have kept us going day and night and it's all the efforts of the town really.

"Each day more and more people have got involved, we have got more pumps down to keep helping. Someone kindly brought the fountain down, and then Lavender Hall Fishery gave us another pump. Every day the fish look more and more healthy.

A number of pumps and a generator have been donated to help keep the lake aerated (image by James Smith)

Darren and the rest of the volunteers took responsibility in Abbey Fields after Warwick District Council announced that nothing else could be done to protect the fish.

The council said the water levels were too low to use pumps to aerate the water, and Severn Trent blocked the local authority from using mains water to keep the water levels up.

Darren said he felt "let down" by WDC and said many people he had spoken to felt the same way.

"A lot of the community feel that they didn't respond properly. 

"They had a lot of warning and there is a lot of stuff that they could have done earlier. And then they had obstacles put ahead of them when they finally did act by the water board. 

"But they could have acted a few days earlier."

However, he did praise the efforts of the council deputy leader Cllr Richard Hales who he described as "an absolute godsend". 

"He's pulled out all the stops," Darren said.

"The second day that we were here he turned up with his wellies and a load of tools to help dredge it out."

Darren said when they first arrived the fish could be seen struggling in just inches of water (image by James Smith)

Darren also thanked the generosity of Betty Hopkins, owner of Kenilworth Pet and Garden Supplies, who fronted the £1,900 cost of a 19,000L tanker to be brought down to fill the lake.

And again he reiterated his appreciation for local people who quickly raised the funds to help reimburse her.

"The way the community responded within two or three hours to get the money paid back was incredible," he said.

Going forward he said he wasn't sure how long the volunteers could stay on site, and said it could depend on how much rainfall there is this week.

"We are working on the idea of getting the fish out and unsure of how much rain there will be in the coming days," he said.

"This will need a lot of repairing, there needs to be work done in here. 

"We want to work with organisations to get this sorted and fixed while there are no fish in there."

A WDC spokesperson said on Friday:

"Warwick District Council understands how distressing this situation is for members of the public.

"It has been a very sad few days for council officers and contractors who have been dealing with this incident."