Sunday 27 February 2011

Styal 27 feb 2011

We had a bit of a change of plan - thankyou to Mick for leading the day and supplying the following words and photographs -
Seven volunteers met in the car park at Styal in a downpour. Thankfully, by the time we got to the work site for the day, the rain was only a drizzle. This and the lack of promised flapjack (it was still in the work site leader's kitchen - an omission blamed on his other half) were the only downsides. We even got sunshine in the afternoon.
There was a change to the planned task (fencing), as some logs needed to be moved from the village schoolyard. Several larch had been cut down as part of the clearance of an area for a new school building - the large logs will be made into outdoor play equipment. These larger pieces had to be dragged by tractor with two of the volunteers helping position the logs using logging poles and stewarding the tractor through the village. A couple of piles of smaller (but still substantial) logs were moved and stacked in the work yard.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group revived a fire and started clearing everything except mature trees from the back of the Norcliff chapel, an area that had become overgrown with laurel, holly and a few rhododendrons. After lunch, this was where the whole group were working and most of the area was free of shrubs and saplings by the time we finished.

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Theatre trip 23 February 2011

Tonight a record number of 14 MNTVers converged on the Royal Exchange in Manchester for the opening night of the Noel Coward play 'Private Lives'.

It has a very clever script and tonight's performance certainly did it justice. We were chuckling from the start and drawn into the tension as things became, shall we say 'unsettled'. The smiles were back though before the play concluded.

So now I'd better get searching the listings to find our next theastre trip!

Sunday 20 February 2011

More Hedge Laying at Alderly Edge 20 Feb 2011

Eleven volunteers turned out to Alderly Edge, and spent the day hedge laying. The weather was cold but more or less dry. The hedge we were working on was sheltered from the breeze.


Unlike the last session we had at Alderly Edge, the brash (trimmings) were not required - so we had a small fire to dispose of it. We made quite good progres but did not finish quite as much as we would have liked. Though we did do considerably more than the bit visible in the photo above!

Sunday 13 February 2011

Dunham massey - cobbled gutter

Four hardy souls turned out today, and continued work on the edges of charcoal drive, at Dunham Massey. The weather started grey and damp with quite a breeze, but vigorous sweeping, and scraping warmed us up.

It started getting wetter after 11, and after lunch we got to a point where we could not see the cobbles at the bottom of the gutter. So we decided it was time to call it a day.

In the second image you can see the section that we had worked on in the morning level with the landrover.

Sunday 6 February 2011

Hayfield 6 Feb 2011

Rhodadendron beforeNine volunteers turned out and met up with the warden's team in Hayfield. We travelled part way to the worksite using NT landrovers due to limited space for parking where we were working. It was then a short walk onto Park Moor to continue cutting and burning rhododendron along the edge of a stream where we have worked before.
There had been extensive rain on saturday and the streams were full, with surface water in erosion channels in the paths as well. As most of the volunteers were experienced it didn't take long to get them going, with Shane initially requesting that we clear off the small plants from the flatter part of the moor. Once we had done all that were within a convenient distance of the fire - which the wardens were tending, a few volunteers continued the cutting process down the slope into the valley. The rest of the team dragged the cut material up and along to the fire.


somewhat less Rhodadendron - after We were making good progress and making a visible difference to the
remaining stands of R. ponticum in the valley when a call was received that an access road was collapsing. As the wardens were needed elsewhere we had to stop and clear up. Alex remained behind to make the fire safe while everyone else trooped off to investigate. If we had had a while longer then the stream might have been visible in the second photo.

On investigation it was found that ground water had caused to the surface of the drive that the landrovers were parked on to blister, and a vehicle had broken through the surface into rather fluid mud underneath. We helped clear an "off road" route around the problem, and eventually went home.