Monday 15 December 2014

High Wray Christmas weekend, December 12-14 2014

A big weekend deserves a big blog entry – and they don’t come bigger than the annual MNTV Christmas festivities, which returned to the idyll of High Wray in Cumbria for the fourth year running.

Eleven volunteers (Matt, John, Ally, Neil, Lisa, Mick, Pip, Sam, Louise, Tim and Belinda) made the trip up this year, with five of the group enjoying their first MNTV Christmas, emphasising what has been a very successful year for attracting new members.

Charlie popped in to say hi on the Friday evening, somehow finding time from her busy schedule at the nearby Elterwater Hostel. While Sam joined us at the worksite on the Saturday morning, the remaining ten arrived in good time on the Friday, although Lisa almost made herself into a Darwin Awards candidate by following her satnav into the lake where the ferry crosses Windermere. Signs showing cars plunging into water helped her to stop just before tarmac turned abruptly to H2O.

Having expected many people to eat at home before travelling up, I was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough food for Friday’s supper, but Ally managed to make the butternut squash soup go twice as far by the clever use of milk, and we just about fended off starvation before settling down to a slightly chilly night.

Somehow we all managed to be ready for 8.30am on Saturday, whereupon the new ranger Matt arrived, full of the same enthusiasm as his predecessor Jamie. Half an hour through icy country lanes took us just south of Coniston village, to a hedge in a tricky location between fencing, and on top of a low wall.

As hedgelaying sites go, this was a challenging one, but nothing that the skill, dedication and perseverance of MNTV couldn’t handle. Despite having several novices in the group, and despite being pelted at regular intervals by rain and hail (which always seems to happen when we lay Cumbrian hedges), we attacked our task with gusto, and by 3pm a thing of beauty had emerged from the tangled chaos that had existed when we arrived. Another handful of hedgelaying experts have now been added to MNTV’s burgeoning expertise.

Halfway through the day, Lisa, Mick and Pip had headed off to prepare Christmas dinner, and by the time the rest of the group returned to the basecamp, culinary wonders were already in the process of being performed. The aim was to eat around 6.30-7.00pm. The turkey, potatoes (roast and mash), carrots, sprouts, parsnips, stuffing, broccoli, pigs in blankets (and possibly other things that I’ve forgotten, there was so much) were all timed to perfection, and we sat down at 6.45pm. You just can’t buy precision like that.

Secret Santa’s sack had already been passed round (somehow there were enough gifts for everyone, including the weekend leader – who, er, shall remain nameless, and who forgot to bring something). Everyone seemed pleased with their gifts, but especially Neil (see Sunday morning activities!).

After the relative quiet of people contentedly tucking into dinner, we enjoyed a few games and some superbly stimulating conversation on a number of topics. As usually happens, Tim talked a load of outrageous nonsense. And as usually happens, a quick consultation on Google confirmed that Tim was actually telling the truth. This time, we found out that sugar gliders are very cute furry creatures similar to flying squirrels, and that cows have a tendency to face north, and sometimes have magnets in their stomachs to collect the metalwork they accidentally eat, which is then retrieved when the unfortunate bovine eventually heads off to the pastures in the sky.

The day’s endeavours caught up with most of us sooner rather than later, and bedtime was taken at a respectable hour. Neil had worked his magic on the heating system, and a noticeably warmer sleep was enjoyed by all.

The inescapably ‘drich’ weather scoffed at any plans we had for a scenic walk on Sunday morning. We scoffed back by enjoying a morning of untempered joy and excitement, both within the basecamp and elsewhere.

First, Neil took out his Secret Santa gift, which was a mini table tennis set that was perfectly suited to one of the small tables in the kitchen/lounge area. Mick and John proved particularly adept, and played out an epic ‘mano a mano’ struggle of skill and wits to rival the classic Federer-Nadal Wimbledon final of 2008, in stark contrast to the frankly appalling efforts that were on show in some of the other matches.

Mick, Pip and Louise then headed home, while the rest of us went to explore the nearby Trust property at Wray Castle. A highly informative guided tour was followed by a less structured ‘wander at will’ exploration, which mainly involved Ally and Neil regressing to childhood by playing a plastic oversize Connect 4 and having a vigorous swordfight on a plywood castle.

Back at the ranch Lisa cooked up a hearty lunch of turkey, sausages, bacon and eggs, and Sam proved that yesterday’s veg is today’s bubble and squeak. Then it was a soggy relay of taking our gear out to the cars, and a heavy hearted departure after a weekend in which the magic of Christmas had burned as brightly as an MNTV rhodybashing fire.

Happy Yuletide, folks, and see you in 2015!

Monday 8 December 2014

Woodland maintenance at Styal on Sunday 7 December 2014

Six volunteers braved cold, rain and some hail today at Styal to continue the work in the hanging beech woods at the back of Mill Meadow.  We were cutting down holly bushes to let light down to the ground and give space for the future planting of young beech trees.  Today we did not have the chipper which is still awaiting repair and also there was a Victorian Christmas fair and carol concert in the mill yard which would have been disturbed by the noise of machinery.  In the time allowed we still got a lot done and felled some quite large hollies.  They were stacked ready for chipping at a later date.


(Text and photo provided by Adrian)