Fencing work at Styal on Sunday 17th February 2019

This week nine of us worked with ranger Alex Bond (substitute for Vicky) at Bank House Farm near Styal, taking out old fencing in the area near Altrincham Road. We had a slightly delayed start due to some confusion over the meeting point as some members who haven’t been to Styal recently weren’t aware of the ‘new’ reception building.

After we met up we had a 15 minute walk to reach the workplace but the weather was perfect, dry and cool, so the hike was an added bonus. We really needed a tea break by the time we got there but after the safety briefing we started clearing the vegetation growing round the fencing. The terrain sloped quite steeply down to the river so care was needed; two of us took a tumble but no damage done.

Some of the fence posts were rotten and almost fell over to the touch but others were solidly in the ground and needed digging out. There was a double strand of barbed wire as well as normal mesh, so after the staples had been taken out of the posts coiling the wire had to be done very carefully. We were joined by a group of about ten youth rangers for a couple of hours so they added extra muscle power.

Cake sustained us as usual at tea break. Today it was chocolate brownies and madeira cake. Vicky had kindly donated a lemon drizzle cake even though she couldn’t work with us and that was demolished by the youth rangers just before they left.

We had two first timers with us, Fiona and Daniel, and hope to see them again soon.

Thanks to Vicky for the cake and Alex for the intrepid leadership and to everyone for their hard work and for making my first foray into leadership such an enjoyable experience.

Jean