Staking out the Dahlias @ Biddulph Grange Gardens - 1st June 2025

I could just refer you to a previous blog for Biddulph...late spring, but that would be unfair.

Our annual pilgrimage to Biddulph to put the stakes in for the Dahlias along the famous Dahlia walk.   

The day started well with some sunshine poking between the clouds.  The Biddulph gardening team had organised everything with the end stakes in each bed set out, and the right number of stakes set out by each bed.  

 We had to put a line across between the stakes measure the gap divide the gap by the number of SPACES required in the map. Then place the stakes equal distance apart.   It turns out that despite my maths degree, arithmetic  is harder than it looks. But we did get the hang of it eventually.  The stakes were hammered in to make a solid support for the Dahlias.   

 We had a break for 11's when the local church bells peeled. 

                                                            

We went back to work and managed to get all the stakes in by lunch time. 

We just about managed to dodge the short shower. After lunch we set about digging holes in front of each stake so the gardeners could easily plant the Dahlia corms out this week.  We met a lots of members of the public during the day. We often paused to explain who we were and what we were doing, despite our earnest efforts no one  believed that the stakes would bloom once watered. 

We plan to be back in the autumn to take the stakes back out and label up the Dahlias ready to rest for the winter. 

Sunday 25th May 2025 - Spring Bank Holiday weekend - no workday

Removing fencing and tree guards at Lyme Park on Sunday 11th May 2025

Today should have been at Erddig but unfortunately they had to cancel at the last minute so a big thank you to Lyme Park for coming up with a workday for us.  It is much appreciated.

We met ranger Jason in the main car park and as there were only four of us he said we could park in the volunteer car park by the stables.  Phew!  That saved a steep walk.

Our job was to remove deer fencing up in Lantern Wood, so Jason loaded up the Kabuto with our bags etc. and we met him up at the top.

Youth rangers had been working on the two sections in the week so it turns out that we didn't need to remove many staples or lift out many of the inner posts we mainly had to collect the posts and stack them.  Then we pulled all the metal fencing down onto an even path and rolled it up.  Easy bit done now we had to take out the straining posts.

Well to cut a long story short, after a lot of hard work, especially in the heat, we managed it, and I do mean hard work as they were tall posts that were in the ground by a good 3 feet.

After we had moved everything from both worksites and stacked in one spot ready for collection, we made our way down to an area behind the gardens where we started to remove tree guards.  On the way down David and Victor decided that the way to get from one side of a wall to the other was via the dog hole rather than the stile!

It was a very hot day and a big thank you goes out to my colleagues and Jason for their hard work in these conditions, and also for their company.

Christine

38th AGM on Thursday 8 May 2025

We held our AGM tonight by zoom starting at 7:30pm.

Eight members attended:
Adrian Potts, Ally Hardy, Daniel Black, Denise Clark, Emma Summerhayes, Hazel Pryor, Jenny Pitcock and Sue Bonner.

Apologies for absence were received from:

Andy Hill, Christine Hill, Andy Screen, Charlie Spiller, Jean MacDonald, Neil Bonner and Karin Frood

The following matters were covered:

Minutes of 2024 AGM

Chairman's Report for the year ended 31 March 2025

Treasurer's Report for the year ended 31 March 2025

Election of the committee for 2025-26

AOB

After the AGM we had an interesting talk for an hour (including Q&A) from Issy Bovaird, ex-MNTV and now Lead Ranger, Alderley Edge.

Issy joined Alderley Edge from Lyme Park one year ago and has been getting to grips with what’s happening and what’s not quite right.  It’s been a difficult first year impacted by funding cuts post-covid (recruitment freezes, spending freezes) and to mitigate enforced cost increases (National Minimum Wage, employer National Insurance).  Alderley Edge has had to make cutbacks, for example plans to give visitors a better welcome (car park project) have been paused.

 

She talked about current and future projects at Alderley Edge in the context of the Trust’s recently announced new strategy for the next decade and beyond:

 

To restore nature – not just on National Trust land, but everywhere

To end unequal access to nature, beauty and history

To inspire millions more people to care and take action

 

To restore nature:

Examples at Alderley include insect surveys (to get a baseline for the insects Alderley has today) and “veteranising” trees (deliberately damaging their bark) to make them more hospitable to bugs.

Nine volunteers have been trained in baiting and trapping badgers so the badgers can be vaccinated against TB.

New groups are volunteering at Alderley: five schools have made bug hotels and some companies have done footpath work.

 

To end unequal access

Alderley have removed some gates and widened others.  They are doing lots of footpath work so that people can get around the woods.  The new Holy Well bridge went in to today.

 

To inspire people:

Trust staff are getting older and it is very important to get young people involved with the Trust and its work.  Alderley have an apprentice ranger for another year (who can work with us on Sundays) and Hare Hill is getting its own apprentice ranger.  Meanwhile, Tim Ryan (also ex-MNTV) continues to work two days per week.

See above re other volunteer groups getting involved at Alderley.

  

Bosley Cloud is a property covered by Issy and her team.  We talked about the access difficulties (uphill slog with tools to worksites) that we know deter members from going and wondered if anyone in MNTV has a 4x4 to drive tools up Gosberryhole Lane to the boundary with the open land.  The Congleton Harriers no longer do workdays there with Tim.

 

All in all, Issy’s first year at Alderley has been busy and next year is likely to be busier still with the requirement to do more for less.  We have several Alderley workdays in the programme and look forward to helping her out.

Daniel Black
MNTV Chairman

Sunday 4th May 2025 - Early May Bank Holiday weekend - no workday

Fencing and footpath repair at Styal on Sunday 27th April 2025

Six MNTVers met Ranger Stu on a warm and sunny morning to do various fencing tasks around Bank House Farm.  This is in preparation for cattle to be grazed in the surrounding fields.

The first job was to repair a couple of gateposts.  The base of one support post had rotted away but was still embedded in hard ground.  It needed lots of brute force with various post hole diggers and bars to clear it out.

The second gate had an unstable support post that was still usable.  Once the upright was reseated and level, stones and soil were used to anchor it in place.  As good as new!

The second job was to put a patch on a section of fencing that had been completely cut through by vandals.  A fresh strip was cut then ‘woven’ into the existing fence, filling the gap.

The last job was footpath repair.  A new path has opened up the area near Giant’s Castle steps for walkers but erosion has increased near the boardwalk.  This is at the bottom of a steep slope so we had to wheelbarrow stones down the hill and lay them amongst tree roots as a protective layer.

A picture of a pile of stones isn’t of much interest - unless you turn it into a group photo.  This was an unusual day, lots of smaller jobs instead of one big one, but it shows how the NT is balancing use of the area for farming and leisure.

Jean

Sunday 20th April 2025 - Easter Sunday - no workday