Dunahm Massey 15 December 2013

thanks to "Mick" for leading the day and the following words...

The last MNTV workday of 2013 was at Dunham Massey and a crisp, clear day welcomed nine volunteers to the park. We were actually working outside the park - across the road from the end of Charcoal Drive.This former car park, now intended to be woodland, is getting overgrown. After stripping ivy off the paling fence we were clearing the scrub and thinning out the smaller trees. 

The ranger was around for a some of the day, but had various members of the public and a deer with a plastic bag caught on it's antlers to attend to as well.

The Green Room- The Importance of being Earnest Tues 10th Dec 2013

A few of us met at The Green Room in Wilmslow to see their performance of Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of being Earnest'.

It was a fresh interpretation of this famous play with a minimal set and minimal furniture but still involving some extremely clever and witty dialogue around a handbag, a railway station and the true love of someone called Earnest:-)

The Green Room is a lovely, small theatre in Wilmslow and, wherever you sit, you are so close to the stage that you feel almost part of the production.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening!! 

Riverbank clearance at Styal on 8 December 2013

Ten of us worked today with ranger John Waller and Sunday volunteers Adam and Andrew clearing dogwood from a 30-meter stretch of the Bollin riverbank next to the millpond.  The dogwood branches on our bank (and the one opposite) were dipping into the river and a large patch of bottles/aerosols/polysytrene food cartons/footballs had accumulated behind.  The hope was that removing the dogwood would free the litter - if not today then in the next downpour.  (Towards the end of the day the 'litter slick' was breaking up in places but the litter was soon snagged on the riverbank further downstream.)

cleared riverbank with 'litter slick' behind

We lopped and sawed until 2:30pm, burning the cuttings on bonfires at either end of the footpath.  These were turned in at 3pm and then extinguised so that the public could walk safely along the footpath when we reopened it on departure.

dogwood burns well!

We had a fabulous sight at the end of the day when a kingfisher darted along the river in front of us.  Its vivid turquoise plumage was unmistakable.

During breaks and at the end of the day we went to the Victorian Fair in the mill yard.  Staff in period costumes were selling olde worlde sweets, Christmas wreaths/plants and serving hog roasts.

Christmas in the Lake District - 29 November-1 December 2013

It is a tradition of ours to go away for the first weekend in December to celebrate Christmas.  We do a day's work on the Saturday, have a traditional Christmas supper and secret Santa and then on Sunday go for a walk.  We used to always go to Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire but ever since their basecamp closed have gone to High Wray in the Lake District.

Happy Christmas!

We spent Saturday rhodybashing on steep wooded ground at Harrow Slack and gave the ranger Jamie a Christmas present by clearing most of the rhody there.  A roaring bonfire keep everybody warm.  Charlie had stayed at basecamp to start the chopping of the vegetables and Hazel returned to basecamp early to help prepare a delicious supper of turkey plus all the trimmings accompanied by the wine that we won at the pub quiz last month.  Later in the evening secret Santa visited and we played the names-in-a-hat game (if you don't know how to play join us next year!).

On Sunday we went for a short walk from the basecamp to Latterbarrow and enjoyed views of Hawkeshead, Windermere and the Fairfield Horseshoe.

(thanks to Ally for the above details and photo)