Pub quiz at The Hesketh on Monday 29th October 2018

Eight of us gathered tonight at The Hesketh in Cheadle Hulme for their weekly quiz.  It began at 8:45pm and we had an hour beforehand for dinner and to catch up.  Tim Leadbetter was with us (over for a few days from Dublin with today being a Bank Holiday in Eire) and so too was Phil Greaves.  The waiting staff were all dressed in Halloween costumes and the sight of so much fake blood didn't help our appetites!

The quiz followed the usual format of (Halloween) Faces, Dead or Alive, Catchprases… then three rounds of General Knowledge, Music and Wipeout.  We (The Volunteers) scored 93 points out of 110 and came fourth - a creditworthy effort but far behind the winning team who scored a sensational 102.5!

Thanks to Sue and Denise for organising the evening.

Hopefully we will see some of you at our next social on Thursday 6 December (Gaslight at MADS theatre in Macclesfield).

Daniel

The Volunteers

Rhody bash at Hayfield on Sunday 28th October 2018

It was a cold start to the day but 10 enthusiastic MNTVer's met Matt, Lead Ranger for the High Peak, in the Sett Valley trail car park, before moving on to Park Hall wood. We'd all remembered that the clock's had gone back so a great start that we all turned up on time:-)
We carried our bowsaws and loppers up the hill behind the hall to where the remaining rhody was waiting for us. We were working on a slope, which made the day challenging. After the risk assessment chat from Matt, but before we started work, Andy shared some homemade treacle toffee that Christine had made - it was delicious, and a great way to start the day.

The food continued when we stopped for morning break as both the Sue's had brought home-made cake to share - ginger cake and fruit loaf.
We cut back lot's of rhody, starting off in the same area but then splitting into two main groups, We were blessed with great views as we worked because of being so high up the hill and, for most of the day, the weather was dry, cold and crisp, with a bit of sunshine when we stopped for lunch.

Matt seemed pleased with our progress and was delighted with the amount of rhody that had been cleared by the time we finished. It'll be good to return there again to finish the job!

 Photos: Adrian

Fencing around the ponds at Styal on Sunday 21st October

This week the group were at Styal putting in new fencing around the ponds. We were split into two groups, one working in the car park with Craig and the other group making a start on the village pond with Alex.

Whilst the group in the car park were aiming to finish the last section of fencing for their pond, the group in the village were tasked with starting off a whole new fence.

Both groups had some difficulty digging into the ground due to the soil consistency, but everyone put a lot of effort in and by lunch time the fencing in the car park was almost finished.

It started raining at about 2pm (at least it waited for us to have lunch!) but the group carried on without a hitch.

By the end of the day we had finished the pond in the car park and 6 posts had been put in at the village pond car park.

There was a slight difference of opinion regarding the height of the posts but all in all I think the rangers were happy with our work.

It was a good day overall and it was nice to see the difference at the end of the day. Thanks to everyone who came along and thanks to Craig and Alex for helping us out all day.

Text from Hannah (worksite leader). Photo's from Jean, Karin and Adrian.

*CANCELLED* Path work at Thurstaston on Sunday 14th October

Sadly, today's workday at Thurstaston on the Wirral was cancelled due to bad weather and low numbers of volunteers able to attend.

Hazel

Rhodybash at Lyme Park on Sunday 7th October 2018

Today ten of us joined Academy Ranger Mark for a day's rhody clearance.  After a rather steep walk, for some of us it was steep anyway, we landed at the worksite which was above the Lantern in Lantern Wood.  We worked in this wood last year but always below the Lantern so today we reached a new height!

Mark set the fire whilst the rest of us set to cutting and by brewtime we had cleared a large area, but as Mark wanted to keep the fire quite low and contained we hadn't burnt much.  So, once Mark left us for carpark duties we loaded up the fire and cleared it all safely by the time he returned.  By the time we finished for the day, Mark couldn't believe how much we had managed to clear and was going to get a group of Lyme's own volunteers in to burn what we had cut down but didn't have time to burn.

It was a good day with wonderful views and very willing volunteers.  We also had a lot of interest from passing walkers asking who we were, what were we doing and why were we doing it.

Thanks everyone for an enjoyable day.

Christine