Helsby Hill 29//11/9

I overslept and missed this - words mostly copied from Sue's email

We met with 7 from the Merseyside volunteers and did a litter-pick, cut back overhanging branches from the pathways and cleared fallen leaves where there
was a safety issue. Although the work wasn't taxing, it was nice to work
with the Merseyside group.

Unfortunately it rained on us a few times and, as the Merseyside group keep
the property well maintained anyway, once we'd done a circuit of the paths
and cleared them, we decided to call it a day.

Styal - 22 November 2009

Today's workday at Biddulph had been cancelled mid-week owing to a waterlogged worksite. Thanks to Dave Standen (Cheshire Properties) and Alan Knapper we were able to change the venue to Quarry Bank Garden. Four of us and Marilyn, a Sunday garden volunteer, worked on a bonfire in the top meadow.

We teased apart the nearby "intwigulated" brash pile and then wheelbarrowed the cuttings - branches, leaves, hay, etc - over to the fire. A stiff breeze fanned the flames all day and the matter was quickly consumed. The expected rain failed to materialise and it was pleasing to get something out of the day when on Wednesday it had looked like we might be idle.

Poynton Ceilidh 21 November 2009

Six of us went to a ceilidh at the Poynton Community Centre and had a fun evening do-si-do-ing, galloping and stripping-the-willow to the tunes of The Committee Band. There were about fifteen dances throughout the evening, some with names like Substitution Square and Boston Tea Party, and with mis-steps and laughs aplenty we muddled our way through them all!

Styal (Quarry bank house gardens) 15 November 2009

Five volunteers turned out on another sunny sunday that turned up in a string of wet days. The work was in the orchard associated with the garden, and consisted of tidying up bricks, edging stones, and the remains of some trees that were cut down at least a year ago. As the wood and brash was well seasoned hard wood the fire was very hot with comparatively little smoke or flame.

Lyme Park 8 November 09

Nine volunteers turned out to Lyme park for what turned out to be one dry day in a very wet week.

Lantern wood is a site where we have been before on more than one occassion. It is a comparatively young part of the landscape 0f Lyme park and consists of mostly short lived tree species with an understory Rhodadendron. In time the trees will die out and there is no natural regeneration due the the grazing pressure of deer - so a number of areas within the wood have been cleard fenced and replanted. The plan being to have some sort of continuation in the 40-60 years time that it is needed!
One large area in the corner of the wood was cleared of rhodadendron by our group over a series of days including 2 megabash weekends (a year appart) where we had arround 30 people out 2 days running. Half of it was later planted and the sapling in this area were being overrun by birch and rhodadendon seedlings - so one group weeded that. A second weeded the cleared area outside the fence that handn't been planted and a third cut and burned rhodadendron that was encroaching on one of the smaller fenced areas.

The fire was a pain to start due to the previous wet weather but once going we did manage some jacket potatoes. As usual by the time they were cooked everyone had eaten their sandwiches and were full!

Pie night 4 November 2009

As the weather suddenly became colder, we appreciated a hearty pie supper at the Coach and Four in Wilmslow. There were a range of homemade pies on offer and we were spoilt for choice, chicken and asparagus, pork and stilton, turkey and cranberry, exotic fish.... The pies had proper short crust pastry, which had been cooked with the contents, and were served with peas, carrots, chips and gravy (quite a plateful!). They tasted as good as they looked and fuelled some heavy discussions, ranging from quantum physics and Archimedes to underpants and floor boards.

Snowdonia Marathon

I missed this one - thanks to Daniel for words and pictures

Nine of us travelled to Wales this weekend to spend Saturday marshalling at the 27th Snowdonia Marathon. The weekend has been a fixture in the MNTV calendar since the 1990's and for some of the group putting the clocks back one hour and spending Saturday night at the Hendre Isaf basecamp go hand in hand!

Tim, Karin, Arthur, Mick, Pip, Hazel and Adrian manned the Bryn Gwynant (8 miles) and Llyn Dinas (10.5 miles) feedstations between them and handed out drinks, sponges and words of encouragement to the passing runners. Thanks for all your efforts guys! Successful staging of the race relies on a host of volunteers and you did a great job.

Daniel and Patrick completed the pact they made last year and both ran the race this time, clocking respectable times and battling through some foul weather on the higher ground. Their hopes of reviving at the finish with mugs of sweet tea were dashed by a power failure at the local sub-station that plunged the Community Centre into darkness!

We all met up back at the basecamp from 6pm and after hot showers were soon tucking into a hearty supper of spaghetti Bolognese, garlic bread and pineapple-upside-down cake with custard. Meanwhile the drying room worked overtime drying our cagoules, overtrousers, boots/trainers and assorted clothing. With all the exertions of the day we were glad of the extra hour in bed.

The weather cleared overnight and we spent sunday morning at Bodnant Gardens, using our 50-hour and/or membership cards to get free entry. The gardens have recently featured in the BBC Two series "A Garden in Snowdonia" and we enjoyed the beautiful autumn colours and saw the changes made by the recent £3m improvements.