Saturday 22 December 2018

Happy Christmas!

NT Head Office sent the group a Christmas card and message of thanks for our support:

Images from some of our recent and ongoing fundraising projects:
The Lake District, The White Cliffs of Dover, Stowe Landscape Garden and Snowdonia.

Sunday 16 December 2018

Work in the kitchen garden at Biddulph Grange Garden on 16th December 2018

Five of us went to Biddulph Grange Garden today for our last workday of 2018.  The forecast freezing weather, ice rain and winds never arrived and we had a very enjoyable day working with gardener Leslie Hurst in the kitchen garden.

We tackled and completed two jobs:

1.  Adrian, Andy and David put in a beech hedge.  They delineated the hedgeline with long thin wooden planks, screwed them together, prepared the soil in between and then planted beech saplings at 18 inch intervals.



2.  Tim and Daniel removed the grass from around the base of 16 fruit trees in the small orchard adjacent, constructed wooden squares around each tree and then planted 15 or 16 daffodil bulbs in each square and covered the bulbs with mulch.



At elevenses we washed down Daniel's Christmas-tree-shaped chocolate fudge cake with mugs of hot apple juice infused with Christmas spices courtesy of Leslie.


Lunch was taken in the volunteers' room below the museum.  On the message board we read that Biddulph has had 100k visitors in the year to 31 October versus a target for the whole year of 108k.  Next year's target is 118k.  Andy and I scanned our membership cards as we left to add two to the tally!  Certainly, Biddulph was busy today - there was a Santa Trail for children to follow that led them round the garden and to Father Christmas in the house.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our members and thank you for your hard work and support this year.  Here's to fun and friendship in 2019!

Daniel Black
MNTV Chairmen

Thursday 13 December 2018

Work programme for 2019

I wrote this on the train as I headed home after a fabulous Christmas weekend in the Lake District.  Where were you?!  As 2018 comes to an end, it's time to think about 2019 and what wonders we have in store.  Firstly, we have three weekends planned for your delight.  Our Spring Weekend comes in April and we are visiting Buckden in Wharfedale on the weekend of 7 April.  If you would like to come on this weekend then please let us know as soon as possible as the basecamp only holds 13 and we currently have eight definite bookings and several more probables.  We are sharing this weekend with the Merseyside group.  Our other weekends are Summer in Snowdonia on the weekend of 14 July based at Hendre Isaf basecamp near Betws-y-Coed and Christmas is at Calke Abbey near Derby on the weekend of 8 December.  Look out for emails about these weekends at a later date.

So those are our weekends, what about the workdays?  Well, I'm pleased to announce that the worksites for the whole of 2019 have been confirmed and boy have we got a programme and a half lined up for you!

Our first workday is on 6 January at Alderley Edge.  Ranger Tim Ryan (ex-MNTV) has asked for our help with some hedgelaying.  We'll also be back there at the end of January and in February too to carry on with this task.  Our first longer distance day comes in the form of a trip back to Erddig on 3 February and we'll be back there in May and September too.

In March after roughly four years away we are returning to the seaside and to the sands of Formby.  We will also be travelling there twice more in 2019.  In April, as well as our trip to Wharfedale, we travel to Thurstaston on the Wirral and to Speke.  This will be our only visit to Speke in the year so don't miss it.

In May we have the first of our special workdays at Lyme Park. You may remember a while ago I emailed you all asking if there were any particular tasks you wanted to do as Lyme had asked us the same question.  This month we have our first Lyme Special: on 12 May we are joining the Ranger team doing a bird survey.

In June we have our first visit of the year to Biddulph and Hardcastle Crags, our second Lyme Special (planting bedding plants in the garden) and we will also be at Hayfield doing some bracken bashing.  July brings us the Summer in Snowdonia weekend and our third Lyme Special of either a butterfly survey or thistle thrashing.

August brings the fourth Lyme Special and a job that our volunteers have been keen to take on since last doing it in 2009 at Hayfield drystone walling!  September brings us a first as we join the Merseyside group at Chirk Castle near Wrexham.

In October we have another first as we head to north Manchester to find out what's going on at Gawthorpe Hall or the Stubbins Estate.  November brings us Bosley Cloud and our last trip to Formby for the year.

December brings us the Christmas at Calke Abbey weekend and we finish the year with another visit to Bosley Cloud on 15 December.
The programme for the first part of the year will be up on the Whats On page of our website in the New Year.  Keep your eyes on the website as more dates will get added.
We hope to see as many of you as possible on each workday.  If you have signed up but not yet joined us on a workday then let 2019 be the year!
Ally Hardy

Sunday 9 December 2018

*CANCELLED* Workday at Alderley Edge on 9th December 2018

Today's scrub bashing at Alderley Edge was cancelled on Saturday afternoon because of the low number of people who said they'd be coming - likely due to the poor weather forecast and the possibility of the day being cancelled because of forecast high winds.

Hopefully the same fate won't befall next Sunday's workday at Biddulph Grange Garden, our last of 2018.

Daniel

Saturday 8 December 2018

'Gaslight' at MADS theatre on 6th December 2018

Six of us (Andy, Sue B, Daniel, Neil, Linda and Sue D) went to the theatre in Macclesfield tonight to see MADS's production of Patrick Hamilton's 'Gaslight'.  We enjoyed their performance of 'Season's Greetings' so much last December that we had thought ever since of returning to see this year's Christmas production.

The play is a thriller set in Victorian London:

"Despite seemingly having every advantage and an outwardly doting husband, Bella is being driven slowly mad... but can the cause of her madness truly be her husband?  What is the dark, terrible, secret lurking in his past, and where does he disappear to each evening?  Left alone in her dingy parlour with the gaslight periodically dimming and the shadows surrounding her, is Bella really going insane?  Does police detective Rough hold all the answers?  Will anybody be able to save her from her darkened fate..."

Before the play, four of us met Jenny and Ian at Kandy, a Sri Lankan restaurant on Mill Street, and enjoyed a delicious meal.



Wednesday 5 December 2018

Christmas in Cumbria 2018

Nine go to Cumbria: Wet, Wet, Wet feat. Santa
Starring: Matt, Lisa, Ally, Neil, Tim, Sue, Pip, Mick, Martin and Ranger Philippa
Guest Starring: Ranger Bethan
In the run up to our annual Christmas Weekend it had been a very wet few weeks, but that didnt put off ten volunteers from signing up.  It turned out to be the wettest weekend in a long time.  The weekend starts here!
It started with my trip south on the train to Oxenholme where Sue and Neil met me and we headed to basecamp.  En route we discovered that the three of us had forgotten to look up the safe code for the keys to get into the basecamp, all thinking the others will have done it so as Ally tried to log into Dropbox to get the document we drove under cloudy skies closer and closer to the basecamp.  With the signal not too good we couldnt get the document we were after so were relieved to find Philippa in the office to ask her.  We were joined later by Tim, Pip and Mick and it was then we discovered that our tenth member Nasrin would not be joining us as she had a bad cold.  We hope you feel better now Nasrin.  We adorned the basecamp in Christmas decorations which included lots of colourful lights winking and blinking at you wherever you looked and many sparkling bits of tinsel.  At 6pm we headed out to the Outgate Inn near Hawkshead for our evening meal.  Upon returning we found the final three members of our work party (Matt, Lisa and Martin) had joined us having travelled up after work.
Saturday dawned wet and Ranger Philippa met us at the basecamp at 8.45am and helped herself to a cup of tea whilst we finished getting ready.  We set off at about 9.30 after Lisa had a hunt for her car keys – always check the jacket you were wearing last night!  Our worksite today was Fell Foot Park on the southern shores of Windermere.  It was here we met Ranger Bethan who works at Fell Foot and was very pleased to have some help.  Our job was digging out brambles in an area next to the exit road.  Easier said than done!  Bethan wanted them and their roots dug out.  Some of the roots were really quite long and tough and Im afraid to say some of the roots broke so the brambles might be back next year.  Having been to collect the tools from their shed on wheels we spent the morning digging away in the rain.




At lunchtime Matt and Lisa left the worksite in order to go and prepare dinner and the rest of us, as promised by the Rangers, headed for cover to eat our sandwiches.  The lunch room was rather posh and new looking.  It was in fact the clubhouse of the boating club at Fell Foot so we took off our wet waterproofs and boots and sat at a table (!!!) whilst we watched the rain come down outside.  After lunch, having put our boots and waterproofs back on, we had the chance to change tasks.  Some did and some didnt.  Those who did went with Bethan.  She had a metal rod sticking out of the ground that she wanted to find out what it was so Martin, Tim and Neil went with her to see if they could help.  They dug down about 4 feet and there was still 3 feet left to dig down so they admitted defeat and returned to where the rest of the group were still pulling up the brambles and it was still raining.  If anyone knows what is at the end then please let us know and we can pass it on to the correct person.  We carried on with the brambles task getting really quite muddy and at about 3pm called a halt to the day as we were wet, muddy and tired.  We packed up and headed for the warmth of the cars and back to basecamp.



That evening we dined on Roast Chicken.  The table groaned with pain as it was laden with food: there were two types of potatoes, five types of vegetables, pigs in blankets, gravy and stuffing!  Thank you and well done to Lisa and Matt for cooking it for us all.  Santa arrived on his sleigh and gave out the presents in his sack and we all got a present. I got some banana lights that I have stuck up in my kitchen and some Danish Traditional Butter Cookies.  A number of people got games so we broke with tradition and played Who am I? (Lisas present), The Music Quiz (Neils present) and Pub Quiz (Matts present).  We then decided it was time to go to bed!



Sunday morning, and today it was not conservation work we were doing it was clearing up basecamp and being tourists.  Whilst eating breakfast we spent some time watching the birdlife around the basecamp.  Sue got very excited at seeing the local woodpecker and jay along with many other finches and tits.  After breakfast we tidied up and some of us walked over to Hawkshead and others went by car because it was still raining or we had exerted ourselves a little too much the day before.  We visited the Christmas market.  Neil very kindly provided a shuttle service so we didnt have to walk back in the rain to basecamp and it was getting late.  Once back Mick and Pip left and the rest of us had lunch, cleared up the last bits, packed the cars and headed home.  It was not a pleasant journey home down the M6 - the rain just kept on coming.  I can inform you however that on Monday whilst in the Manchester area I experienced a small amount of rain in the morning and then blue skies.  On Tuesday, when I left for Edinburgh the sunshine was out, there was some mist and fog patches on the way north but it was a beautiful day in Edinburgh city centre when I got back.  Its Wednesday now and you guessed it, its raining again!
My thanks must go to Neil for my transport and to Matt and Lisa for their superb cooking.  I look forward to seeing you all again soon.
MNTV you were awesome. Lets do it again!
Ally x

Sunday 25 November 2018

Rhodybashing at Hayfield on Sunday 25th November 2018

Laura and I met Sue Daber and Issy in the carpark at Hayfield.  We were then met by the two rangers who then escorted us to Park House estate from where we took all the tools up the hill to the work site.

The first job, which Issy and one of the rangers set about, was to winch out the tree branches that were hanging, whilst we went on to the site behind Park House to remove the rhododendrons.  Unfortunately the winch had broken the shear pin so after walking to see if the spraying of the rhodies at a previous site by contractors had been successful (mixed success), Issy joined us to destroy some more of the rhodies.


The weather was kind to us and we spent most of the day destroying rhodies.  We couldn't burn them as the rangers needed to sheet over the ground to stop the peat burning and they had not had time to set the burning area up, so we just piled the cuttings up for future volunteers.


By the end of the day we had reached a precipice above Park House which required ropes to cut down the rhododendrons above the house and we reached the area which we had cut down previously.  We then collected the tools and made our way down the hill to our cars and made our way home.

Neil

Saturday 24 November 2018

Fencing, planting and rebuilding at Quarry Bank on Sunday 18th November 2018

A big turnout for my return to leading after a very long time....  11 of us turned out on a chilly but beautiful autumnal day for a spot of cleft fencing around the village pond (finishing off a job previously started in October).  We were working with Ranger Vicky.  


















We started by measuring out the section that needed to be finished... could we finish the fence without shortening the last piece... wait and see!




Meanwhile a small group of us made our way over to Norcliffe Chapel to plant bulbs...



Vicky had purchased a large quantity of bluebells, lesser celandine and wood anemone to plant at the side of the church in the shaded woody area where a septic tank is buried.






We planted 1000 bluebells in a swathe between these two trees.



Lesser celandine and wood anemone were planted in large clusters under trees and along the fence line.  













Hopefully in Spring there will be a gorgeous mix of blue, yellow and white flowers covering this previously bland area.





Time for tea, cakes courtesy of Denise's mum; a selection of brandy fruit cake, ginger cake and lemon drizzle loaf went down a treat.







After break the cleft fencing continued and the bulb planting had finished so a group of us headed over to the wood at the side of the chapel to spread wildflower seeds, meanwhile...



Tricky work getting the last section of fencing to fit!


 



Cleft fence completed (no need to shorten anything as we had it measured out perfectly) and looks stunning in the late afternoon sun!

Our last and final task of the day was building a new pathway support in the wood...




Not quite finished result as we ran out of time but looking pretty sturdy.


We all had a fabulous day, will you see Denise leading again anytime soon, watch this space!

Monday 12 November 2018

Scrub clearing at Erddig on Sunday 11th November 2018

Today five of us (Andy & Christine, Daniel, Andy Screen and John Walsh) travelled to the Welsh border for our third workday of the year at Erddig, an NT house and estate near Wrexham.  We spent the day cutting down saplings and scrub from below a high voltage powerline on the edge of the property.  Andy lit a bonfire about 100 metres away in a clearing in the woods and we dragged the cuttings over to it.  James (Head Ranger) said it wasn’t safe to have a fire below the powerline because there was the possibility of electricity discharging to ground down the plume of smoke!

Before
After
Today was Remembrance Sunday and the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended World War One.  At 11 o'clock we observed two minutes’ silence to remember those who fell in WW1 and all wars.  Christine streamed the BBC’s coverage of the service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall as we stood around her flag in silent reflection.


Daniel



Sunday 4 November 2018

Fencing at Lyme on Sunday 4th November 2018

The annual rut at Lyme has just come to an end, and the deer in the park have moved up to the hill called The Knott to feed and rest. Not a good time to be taking down and repairing a big drystone wall that prevents the deer from entering a nearby wood.

Sadly MNTV weren’t working on the wall. Instead we were moving and re-erecting a temporary deer fence just behind the wall, to allow the walling contractors to begin work on the next section of the repair.

We had a team of nine, and split up so that some of us were detaching the fence from the existing posts, some were uprooting the posts from their current positions and others were knocking posts in further along the wall where the fence would be moved to.


The work of detaching the fence was reasonably straightforward while removing the posts took a bit of heave-ho. Knocking the posts into their new positions was more precarious. This involved standing on a raised step (on a 1:3 slope!) and using a post driver to knock the posts in. Some good teamwork and help from ranger Dan helped us to get the posts in on the steepest parts of the hill.


After morning break the now detached fence was ready to be reattached in its new position. It was a bit tricky to maintain tension along the whole fence while dealing with the changing steepness of the slope, but we managed to put up something that not only looks ok, but more importantly should stop any adventurous deer with thoughts of wandering.


The fence was attached just in time for lunch, and just in time to deter the first would-be invader, a stag with magnificent broad antlers (we must have done a good job as he turned back 100 yards away).

After lunch we cleared bracken from alongside the wall before an early 2pm finish. You can’t beat efficiency like that!


Wednesday 31 October 2018

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

Sunday 28 October 2018

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

Sunday 21 October 2018

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.