Collecting and chopping wood at Lyme Park on Sunday 16th February 2020

The work programme said we were off to Biddulph today, but Storm Dennis had other ideas and the task of planting whips at Biddulph had to be postponed.  Not to be put off by some wind and rain Ally phoned round and found a task for us to do in the bad weather.  Chris and Craig at Lyme asked if we could help clear up some branches that had been cut from the oaks near the picnic area and car park and chop some firewood.

We were reminded how dangerous the wet and slippy ground can be when the Ranger was called away to help rescue a lady who had slipped and broken her ankle.  He stayed with her until the ambulance arrived to take care of her.

When we finished loading we made use of the picnic tables for our morning break. Refreshed, we made our way up to the kennels to find some wood to chop.  We found a little more than we could do in one day, but we had a good go.

By the end of the day we had added two more ceiling high stacks of chopped oak to the wood store.  The oak will take three years to season ready to burn in the houses on the estate.

The Rangers were busy controlling the water levels around the estate because of all the rain we had had on Saturday.  Luckily, contrary to the weather forecast, we had very little rain on the day and even had a little sunshine.  We returned home with the satisfaction of another day's volunteering completed and friendships renewed.

Jenny