Tuesday 7th September
Tuesday saw our final visit to Bridgend Allotments for some time, which meant a pleasant drive up through Newington past all the little cafe’s and takeaways which line that road, and we also welcomed back Rob and Kate from their working holiday to Norway.
There remained some unfinished business with the remaining compost bin on site, and the volunteers divided into three groups straightaway and I let Alan and Keith take the lead in putting things to rights, and they had excellent support from Ahmed who showed great enthusiasm for the task in hand on his first day out as a volunteer. All of our merry band took turns in sawing and drilling, and after Stewart and I had nipped off to Homebase to rectify our decking screw shortage, the bin really took shape and I’d swear that it was constructed by a team of professional joiners rather than a group of enthusiastic but untrained volunteers. Random tasks awaited us in the afternoon such as willow pruning and weaving, compost sifting and emptying the comfrey liquid compost bins, where in one of these bins an unfortunate mouse had spent its last moments choking on black goo:(
Wednesday 7th September
The forecast for Wednesday prophecied bleak weather and a rainy afternoon, thankfully however when the rain came it was light and feathery and at the time we were working under a fairly substantial canopy of sycamore, beech and ash. The morning came and saw us in a shady gully to the south of blackford hill, wobbling about in a dried up stream bed blocked with chunky rocks which took all our combined strength to heave onto the edge of the path. With Alan and Dave leading the way we managed to create a rough dry-stone wall effect at the pathside and thankfully, no-one slipped and cracked any bones or drew any blood during the entire day. A pleasant lunch was spent by the stream and and we were surrounded by small forests of lovely pink Himalayan Balsam, and Wullie had brought his radio along to give us a little light entertainment to spice up our sandwiches. We were shovelling dirt from a clogged drainage ditch further along the path in the afternoon and Tommy was in fine meeting and greeting form, saying hello in his own special way to at least 5 different types of excercising dogs on the path. Willie H. was turbo-charged as usual and had completed the designated task and more within half the time allotted.
After an hour and a half of listening to spades crunching on the gravel me and everyone else was glad for the welcome warmth of the mini-bus and some audio entertainment on the journey home……..
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| 7 September 2011 |
Thursday 8th September
Today we were back at Butterdean Woods to continue work on relocating a path. Surprisingly for a Thursday the sun was shining! However, this meant bugs galore. Luckily Sheila and Pam, being sensible, had brought a well know beauty product that repels bugs and I have to say a huge thank you to them.
Anyhow the day began with completing the edging for the new path so we split into teams, with one group making pegs and the other finding fallen trees to create an edge with. Within the peg creation team it became clear that practice and experience helps! With Rob and Neil putting my pegs to shame with their perfect creations, however, when they were in the ground they all looked perfecto.
After lunch the big task of moving a bridge from the older path began. From an observational viewpoint it looked like difficult work, which was confirmed vocally by those lifting the bridge. This task involved 6 people who deserve a round of applause but as I don’t think I can add sound to this blog I will cheer them in sharing their name; Martin, Pam, Willie, Rob, Derek and Chris. Well done all of you.
When the bridge was safely and securely put in place it was time to leave. But watch this space, as we will be back!