Text 1: Water main floods Northbridge allotments, by Harriet Lowe
An original contemporary newspaper report.
A broken water main flooded Northbridge allotments before dawn yesterday, leaving thirty-four plots under several centimetres of water.
The current swept seed trays from the paths and washed soil from two newly planted beds. Water also entered the communal tool shed, while the force of it cracked one wall of the oldest greenhouse. Plot holder Malik Shah said he had spent the previous evening putting out trays of seedlings. By morning, most had been carried against the far fence.
As soon as the main was isolated, gardeners carried spades, tools and sacks of compost to higher ground. A group of volunteers dug a channel towards the lane so that the remaining water could escape. The allotment committee opened its locked store and lent wheelbarrows to anyone whose own equipment had been swept away.
The ground will need time to dry, and several gardeners have already begun clearing away the mud. Nobody was injured, but the first planting of the season has been badly disrupted.
Text 2: The morning the garden stream broke, by Nell Pritchard
An original diary extract set in the 1950s.
The pipe above the village gardens burst during the night, and by breakfast a brown stream was running between the rows. It carried away the young bean plants and filled the cellar beneath the potting shed to the windowsill.
The water did not stop there. It pulled down a length of the western fence and soaked the paper packets in which Mr Ellis kept his seeds. His potatoes, stored in sacks beside the shed, were left wet and muddy.
The gardeners set to work before the sun was high. Two of the men cut a channel through the soft earth, while Mrs Bowen spread the seed packets beside the kitchen stove. Later, Mr Ellis and his neighbour propped up the fence with timber from the old cart shed. By evening the stream had found its way into the ditch, though the lower beds were still shining with water.
Refer to Text 1 and Text 2 to explain briefly the damage caused by the burst pipe and the actions people took afterwards.
Make clear where your information comes from.
123 exam-style questions on Eduqas GCSE English Language 2.3 Summary and synthesis, covering 2.3.3 Synthesising from more than one text. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.