Rhodybash at Lyme Park on 28 February 2016

Two fires were needed today to keep up with the sixteen volunteers who came out to tackle the rhododendron on West Park Drive at Lyme Park. An impressive amount was cut and burned, and 70 saplings were planted in previously cleared areas. These were beech, oak, rowan, holly and blackthorn.

There is now a stretch of bank alongside the drive down as far as the path up to Paddock Cottage which is clear except for about a dozen rhododendron trunks.

Mick

Hedgelaying at Alderley Edge on 21st February 2016

Just two of us out today: Neil and Tim met up in the Wizard car park with five members of the Sale Conservation Volunteers and two lads earning their Duke of Edinburgh awards. Tim Ryan the ranger then led the drive to Mount Farm, a property between Alderley Edge and Hare Hill.

The hedge we had been working on for the past few workdays since 13 December had been completed by another team of volunteers so after a very muddy hike across the farmland adjacent to Hare Hill we reached the new worksite.  We had begun the project of reinstating this hedgerow late last year but had only spent a day removing old barbed wire, metal fencing and generally clearing this ancient hedge line.  Since that first visit other volunteer groups had had a go at laying the sporadically spaced hawthorn bushes and planting new saplings in the gaps that make up this old boundary.  The Sale Volunteers continued to lay the gnarled hawthorn while Neil and Tim planted in the gaps.  Later in the afternoon most of us fell to planting at the far end of the hedge were none of the old hawthorn survived.  At the end of the day we had planted quite a few hundred new plants, staked them out and wound round the protective plastic rabbit guards.

Thanks to Tim Ryan for providing an interesting workday.

Tim

Pathwork at Styal on Sun 14th Feb 2016

We were originally scheduled to do 
fencework on this workday but Colin, the
Lead Ranger, said that the ground was too wet, so we were asked to clean up one of the paths at Worm's Hill near Twinnies bridge instead.

Eleven of us turned out on this beautiful but cold winters day. We used a wheelbarrow to transport some of the tools we needed and carried the rest. When we got to Worm's Hill and saw the path in question, we had a health & safety talk and risk assessment before starting work. The majority of us started using the spades to 'slice' the soil that had been washed up over the path edges and then grass had grown into it. We removed layer and layer of soil and grass until we reached the stone on the path. It was hard work, similar to cutting up sods of earth, but the end result was amazing and made the path look almost as if it had just been laid:-)


lunchbreak

There were a couple of  extra jobs that we did as well. There was a gap an the existing hedge which had enabled walkers to create a short-cut from the lower path to the upper path. Due to a lot of use, this had become muddy and unsightly, and was particularly slippy and dangerous to use when it was wet. A few of our Group cut down branches from nearby tree's and laid them across the gap, intertwining the branches where they could. Hopefully this 'psychological' barrier will persuade people to use the path instead and the grass will grow back over time.

new 'barrier' to persuade people to use the footpath

In addition, there was unslightly rubbish along the lengths of the path including poo-bags, either thrown down on the ground or even hung from trees?! - why?! Two of the Group, in high-viz vests and with grapplers and bin bags, did a stirling job of clearing the litter and poo-bags, so they could be disposed of properly.
Colin was very appreciative of what we'd done and has subsequently contacted us to report that many of the visitors to the woods have commented on how nice the path now looks:-)


starting to look good:-)

Pub quiz at the Hesketh Tavern, Cheadle on Monday 8 February 2016

Six of us met up last night for our first social of 2016, a pub quiz at the Hesketh Tavern in Cheadle. It is becoming a regular haunt for us on Monday nights because of the quality of the quiz, the good food and drink, the buzz of all the other competitors and the welcoming ambience of the place.

Sadly, this time team MNTV came nearer the bottom of the field than the top.  We did well on Rounds 1 and 2 (Faces, dingbats, catchphrase, This 'n' That) but struggled again on the music round (we missed you, Philippa!) and lost all our points in the Wipeout round because of a wrong answer.

This was the pick of the dingbats, solved by Linda:

Despite not being in the prizes we enjoyed the evening and each other's company, and Daniel got useful feedback on the draft 2015 Yearbook.

Daniel

(Answer: Hauled over the coals)

Hedge laying at Alderley Edge on Sunday 7th February 2016

We've been braving shin deep water and mud regularly over the past two months, and today was our latest instalment on the hedge at Mount Farm, which is now nearing completion. The radio was aptly playing Wet Wet Wet as we pulled up at the farm: it could equally have been playing anything by Mud.

The highlights of the morning were: welcoming three newbies to the group; Neil using his 'special equipment' to get a good fire going; getting going on the hedge; the local sheep coming to greet Neil like an old friend; Tricia sinking into the mud until she keeled over slowly; Lisa's chocolate cupcakes with swirly icing.

Neil befriends the livestock

"He's the firestarter, twisted firestarter"

Good progress had been made by lunchtime, and the weather had held - we did get a short shower after lunch but were largely very lucky.

Beautiful hedge, and ugly mud

In the afternoon, the highlights were: getting more hedge laid, including some biggies; Tim, Andy and Neil (aka Three Tenors For A Fiver) singing The Hippopotamus Song (Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud); Lisa sinking into the mud until she keeled over slowly; finishing off and heading home for a hot meal and bath!

The folk what did the hedge

We'll be back for more in two weeks' time - there's no stopping MNTV!