Fence painting and rhody bashing at Speke on Sunday 15th March 2015

A couple of different tasks for the group today.

First off, painting the fence around the staff and kitchen part of the Marquee on the wildflower meadow. We had helped create the meadow by clearing the area of hay a couple of years before.
The Marquee is hired out for weddings and other events and is a five year trial. If successful, the Trust will replace it with a more permanent structure.

While part of the point of the painting was to slap on some preservative onto the wooden fence, it was also intended to make it less conspicuous. The Ranger felt the finished result did this very well.

With nine people from MNTV and three from our Cheshire sister group (plus two from Merseyside), the outside of the fence was painted by lunchtime.

As bits available for painting dwindled, several of the group headed off into Stockton Wood next to the car park to hunt down rhododendron that had escaped previous clearances.

After lunch, the rest of the group joined in, with just a couple of people working on the inside of the fence. Nearly as much time was spent searching for rhododendron to cut as cutting it, as various volunteer groups over the years have cut and burned most of what was there.

Text and photo's provided by Mick.