Chairman's Christmas Chat - What's in store for 2026

 My advent calendar tells me I'm edging closer to Christmas and a New Year. My bags are packed as are the presents as with 10 days off work, my family and I are heading down to Manchester for Christmas. Christmas Day will be spent at my Sisters house with my 3 year old niece Nancy. Nancy is very excited and I've been told she will open my presents for Me, how useful. Although being off for Christmas I will be back in work in time for New Year's Eve. No doubt Edinburgh Castle will be busy with lots of tourists looking for things to do to keep themselves entertained. With Christmas and New Year just around the corner I think it's time I told what's going in 2026 for MNTV, it's time to get your diaries out. 

Firstly we have 2 weekends planned for 2026; at the end of November 8 volunteers headed to Calke Abbey and had a fabulous weekend even if the weather was a bit dubious at times. The weekend was enjoyed so much that when I got home I emailed the Ranger Team there and asked to book in on 3rd to 6th July, however with restructuring going on at Calke, Vicky wasn't sure what would be going on there. She is becoming Lead Ranger for the Calke Estate which includes her current remit of Staunton Harold Reservoir so she would like to get herself settled in that role before saying yes, and asked me to get back in touch in March so watch this space.

Whilst we were at Calke we met up with Shropshire and Staffordshire NTVs (SSNTV) and they let us know that The Trust is rethinking its variety of its accomodation essentially getting rid of some of them which may mean that cheap weekends are a thing of the past. Having said that I did email Dylan and Lewis in Snowdonia and asked to book in for next winter, Friday 27th to Sunday 29th November, and although we don't know if we will be able to stay at Hendre Isaf basecamp they definitely want to have our help so whatever happens there will be a weekend. And don't forget you can join us on a weekend and not stay with us all, as Andy and Sarah did this year.

With weekends out of the way now let me tell you about the programme for 2026; the programme is I think complete, I'm still waiting for replies from a couple of Rangers but from January to Easter it is definitely confirmed, we spend a lot of time closer to home on these days. Your first workday is on 11th January at Alderley Edge. We are currently there 7 more times over the year. Our first longer distance day comes on 22nd March at Chirk Castle, Jean will be leading this day and it will be a joint workday with the Merseyside group (MENTV). This year we will have lots of chances to catch up with other groups like ours, as earlier this year the committee took a look at the volunteering figures for the last two years and we found that the trend was that further away properties were getting a lot less people than our local properties. The decision was taken to have more joint workdays this means that the Rangers can use their resources better and if they normally have a weekend off it's not wasted.

April and May bring us our first visits to Merseyside with joint workdays with MENTV and also a joint workday on 19th April to Erddig and on 31st May we travel to Biddulph Grange to meet up with Shropshire and Staffordshire NTV. We also have a visit to Alderley and Styal.

June brings us two more joint workdays the first being Hardcastle Crags with West Yorkshire NTV and another trip to Formby with MENTV. I also hope the group gets to visit Dunham in June, Dunham, are I think short of staff and are a little hesitant about booking in workdays as they are not sure of staffing numbers. Hopefully we will be back there more regularly soon.

Along with our potential weekend July also brings us joint workdays at Speke and Dunham with MENTV and a workday at Lyme.

August brings another joint workday with WYNTV at Hardcastle and hopefully a joint workday with MENTV at Erddig we also return to Hayfield after the nesting season. 

In September after 14 years away we return to Shugborough Hall for a joint workday with SSNTV we hope to get a great turn out just like they did for our workday at Calke Abbey we also have joint workdays with MENTV at Speke and Formby.

With Autumn now upon us October to December brings us closer to home with a mixture of workdays at Lyme, Alderley, Styal, Hayfield, hopefully Dunham Massey and our traditional trip to Biddulph to no doubt take out the Dahlias.

Your worksite leaders signed up for the first 3 months just this week and are eager to get back to it. If you fancy having a go at leading then talk to one of them about what it is they do and the benefits or perhaps the challenges and if after that you still fancy drop us an email and we will pair you up with an expert.

The programme may change a little so keep your whits about you and wait for the weekly email coming out before the workday. Some of these emails may just ask who is interested with no details of the task as different groups work differently and Rangers wanting to know how many people to expect before planning the task. The dates will be on the website in the New Year.

Right that's the workdays sorted...in April 2026 MNTV are turning 40, in August we sent you a save the date if you didn't get it then do let us know, we are celebrating on Saturday 13th June, at Lyme Park, Claire and Chris came up trumps with the location for us, we are very much looking forward to it. More details will be out in January. Along with having a party we wanted to celebrate by giving something back, with the help of the team at Alderley we will be planting a hedge, it'll be the MNTV hedge that we will look after in years to come. Tim and Issy at Alderley are very excited about this opportunity for them and us.

Earlier this year, as one of my first jobs as Chair, I bestowed Honourary Membership on Charlie Spiller and Hazel Pryor, they were very surprised and delighted to accept. As part of the Honourary Membership we gifted Charlie £30 gift vouchers for Chesters by the River which is a very lovely gifty shop and cafe close to where she lives at Elterwater Hostel, for Hazel we gifted £30 gift vouchers for National Trust. We hope they enjoy their gifts. I am planning on bestowing more Honourary Memberships next year, so watch this space. Below is Charlie enjoying a cuppa and a cake with some of her vouchers.

The committee has worked extremely hard this year adding 125.50 hours to the hours for the group which currently stands at 1536 hours for the year beginning January to December. The committee is a small select group but we are looking for new members to join us. We have a vacancy available for Social Media Officer please email the committee for more details. We also have opportunities for other roles if you think you can add anything to the group then please speak to one of the committee on a workday or send us an email. Your current committee is Jenny, Denise, Daniel, Adrian and Myself. Time spent on social media is up to you but we do ask that you join us for committee meetings which take place about every 7 weeks on Zoom for about 90mins.

As a member of the group if you partake in 50 hours or more of volunteering with the group then you are entitled to a supporter group card which gets you into NT properties in England and Wales for free and the majority of Scottish ones too. Your volunteer card also lets you gives you free entry to National Trust places and 20% discount on items you buy from our shops or cafés that cost more than £1 (except gift cards and stamps) and discount on National Trust holidays (including Historic House Hotels).There are also discounts at some high street shops, my particular favourite is Cotswold Outdoors. If you would like more details then email the committee to find out more.

Formby have been in touch to ask how many hours we have volunteered with them this year and with those figures they sent their volunteer impact report for 2025 and Manchester and Merseyside combined donated a total of 453 hours good work everyone. They also sent the Autumn and Winter Newsletter which has this gem in it. Blast from the Past - We recently discovered an un-opened packet of crispsfrom the 1980’s in the dunes! A fascinating find and striking reminder of how long litter lingers. Thank you for helping toprotect this special place by taking home everything you bring.

To finish off, we all no doubt tuck into our turkey or whatever we have for our Christmas dinner which we know we will be eating for days to come. Here's a poem to plan what to do with the leftovers.

The 12 Days of Turkey - Anon

On the first day of Christmas, my true love said to me

I'm glad we've bought a turkey and a proper Christmas tree.

On the second day of Christmas, much laughter could be heard

As we tucked into our turkey a most delicious bird.

On the third day of Christmas, we'd friends in from next door

The turkey tasted just as good as on the day before.

On the fourth day of Christmas, Gran came, she's rather old.

We finished up the Christmas pud and ate the turkey cold.

On the fifth day of Christmas, outside the snowflakes flurried

But we were nice and warm inside we ate the turkey curried.

On the sixth day of Christmas, the turkey spirit died.

The children fought and bickered and we ate the turkey fried.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave a wince

When he sat down to dinner and was given turkey mince.

On the eighth day of Christmas, the dog ran off for shelter

I served up turkey pancakes and a glass of Alka Seltzer.

On the ninth day of Christmas, poor Dad began to cry

He said he couldn't stand the strain of eating turkey pie.

On the tenth day of Christmas, the air was rather blue

And everybody grumbled at eating turkey stew.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, the Christmas tree was moulting

Mince pies as hard as rock and the turkey quite  revolting.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, at last Dad smacked his lips

The guests had gone, the turkey too - we dined on fish and chips! 

All that is left for me to say on behalf of the committee is have a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year.

Ally

What's in store in 2025!

 

Dear All, it’s the 8th of December and you find me in Dunbar. I'm enjoying a week off before the hoards arrive in Edinburgh. This weekend with my parents away, I came for a break from the city and to put up their Christmas tree. I haven't quite got the break I wanted as today I was back in Edinburgh singing with my Choir the Summerhall Singers at the Summerhall Christmas Fair. There were many stalls selling goodies from Candles, Cards, Felt Crafty goodness to Wooly hats with lots of jewellery thrown in for good measure. I did however get the chance to see the Polar Express leave Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station, as I waited for my train home. The Steam Train and carriages were full of smiling happy children all hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa himself. These things remind Me that Christmas is just around the corner as is a new year. With a new year comes a new programme and I would like to say it is confirmed but with Rangers being very busy and some just not getting back to Me it’s still not confirmed. But let me tell you what I do know, it’s time to get those diaries out….

Firstly weekends….Some of the group have been in Snowdonia this weekend, I took the year off and from what I have been told it was another very wet and incredibly windy weekend which meant that Saturdays workday was cancelled, the team decided to partake in jigsaws and in a break from the rain managed a short walk, we will no doubt get a full report in due course. We return to Snowdonia in 2025, if you would like to join us then please put 15th to 17th August into you diary for our Summer in Snowdonia Weekend
. I'm hoping that the weather will be far more pleasant than this weekend.

Our other weekend is a bit up in the air at the moment as when I contacted Vicky at Calke Abbey in October she wasn’t sure what work would be available and booking the basecamp so far ahead is just not the done thing, the team at Calke are also looking into ways of looking after the Basecamp a little better, those of you who have been there will probably agree if I said it was rustic and although only used for Volunteer Groups, which is good for us and them it still needs looking after which could mean paying a little something for the use of it, which is totally understandable. My hope is that we go there on the last weekend in November - 28th - 30th November - whether it be a Christmas Weekend is yet to be determined, perhaps we could take a few elements from a Christmas Weekend and make it a Non Christmassy Christmas Weekend.

As a point of interest Merseyside NTEV group have a weekend at Calke Abbey on 28th to 30th March, which if they have any spaces left we will get an invite, if interested please look out for an email about it and if you are desperate to go do get in touch with the Committee and they can get more information for you. If we have space in August we will of course be inviting them in return.

That’s the weekends out the way….

It’s now ten days later, last year I emailed you about Dunham Massey rethinking how they use Volunteers. The Ranger Team there have had volunteers back, just not us, yet, yes, those are the ones I was waiting for a reply to when I began this report. But I’m pleased to say that at the 11th hour they emailed to say they would be delighted to have us. Merseyside returned to Dunham in 2024, so I have piggybacked onto some of their workdays in 2025, we also have a couple of workdays there on our own. Having finally got the reply from Dunham that I’d been waiting for, let me tell you what else we have in store for you in 2025.

The first Sunday of 2025 was not picked by any Ranger, so Christine and Andy have kindly offered to lead a walk round Tatton Park, finishing with Lunch in a pub for lunch. Tatton Park isn’t fully owned by the Trust this is the reason we don’t travel there. More details of this Social day will be sent out to you nearer the time.

With the first Sunday of 2025 a social, our workdays kick off on the 12th January and we will be travelling to Lyme Park on this day. Your worksite leaders for the day are Jenny and Myself. I’m very much looking forward to it and to properly meeting the Rangers at Lyme. In January we also travel to Alderley Edge and Hayfield helping the Rangers who look after Kinder Scout and the Dark Peak. 

February brings us our first trip to Dunham and one of 2 trips to Hardcastle Crags we will also visit Styal and Alderley Edge. 

Our first Sunday of March brings us another trip to Lyme which I may or may not make an appearance at. We also travel to Hayfield, Styal and one of 2 visits to Chirk Castle in North Wales. 

April brings us Easter and our first visits to Formby and Speke. When I got in touch with Speke asking for dates Ranger Ian came back with 3 dates and said if any were available he would love to see us, so when I said that all 3 were free were available he immediately said Yes so we will be at Speke in May and June. We also visit Styal between the 2 bank holidays on 27th April. 

May brings us 2 workdays, the aforementioned trip to Speke and our first of two trips to Erddig near Wrexham. Did you know Erddig has an Apple Festival it celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 2019!

June brings us our traditional trip to Biddulph Grange, with an added attraction, see “in other news”….we also visit Formby, Speke and Dunham, on this trip to Dunham we join Merseyside, this will hopefully mean that there is a big group so we can get lots done.

In July we visit Styal, Erddig with Merseyside, Alderley Edge and Hardcastle Crags. Did you know that Gibson Mill is now the National Trust's flagship sustainable building. It's powered by solar panels, water turbines, and a log-burning stove, and is self-sufficient in energy, water, and waste treatment?

With Dunham being late to the party they have been given 2 dates in August we also have a day at Lyme and our weekend to Snowdonia. The Snowdonia National Park is now known as Eryri but I’m not sure Summer in Eryri has the same ring to it as Summer in Snowdonia!

With the summer holidays over, in September we have 2 longer distance work venues. We join Merseyside on our second visit to Chirk we also take a trip to the seaside at Formby and we fit in Styal and Alderley.

After September comes October and with it cooler weather and 4 workdays we travel to Hayfield, have our only visit to Marsden Moor and Bickerton, at Bickerton we will be joined by Merseyside and we finish October with a visit to Alderley.

November brings shorter days but we still have 4 workdays to fill. On the 2nd November we return to Biddulph to no doubt partake in the Dahlia destruction day. We are, I think, professionals at this job so if you have never done this task before then there will be plenty of people there who have and can talk you through it. We also travel to Hayfield, Formby and Styal. As mentioned before we hope to have our Calke Abbey Weekend. 

December brings just 3 workdays Alderley, Lyme and we finish the year at Dunham on 21st December.  

I sent out the programme to the worksite leaders earlier this week so they could sign up and plan their bakes. If you want to give leading a go do let either Myself or another Worksite Leader know and we can talk you through it. My thanks go to the worksite leaders for agreeing to lead.

Don't forget if you would like to come on a workday then, just wait for an email in the days prior to the workday that will give you all the details and just reply to that email to let us know you would like to join us for the day.

 

So that’s what is in store for 2025. 

In other news, I’ve been doing a little bit of networking. I contacted our nearest sister groups to find out how they plan their program, organise weekends and to see if we could join forces. I’m very pleased to announce that on 1st June 2025 we will be joined by Shropshire and Staffordshire NTVs at Biddulph Grange it is at the Northern tip of their patch and they rarely go there, but the publicity contact for their group was very pleased I got in touch and said that as MNTV will be there it will be an incentive to travel to Biddulph. I’m hoping that going forward into 2026 and beyond we can join forces with them and other groups. This brings like minded people together and hopefully makes workdays and weekends bigger and better. It also means more work can be done. 

Whilst networking I also learnt of some sad news, Northumbria National Trust Volunteer Group have decided to call it a day and have disbanded, they covered the areas of Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and County Durham. I sent them a message from the group saying how sorry I was to hear this news. I was also told that the Basecamp at Cragside in Northumberland had closed too, perhaps there’s a link. Should we perhaps organise a working party up there, perhaps there’s the option of helping for more than just a weekend, you tell Me?

It was West Yorkshire NTV group that informed me of the demise of the Northumbria group it was due to an aging group and a drop in numbers, having had a long conversation about it we realised that when we do get new starters, the one's that stay tend to be a similar age as those in the group already, which I guess is understandable. It does however mean that we too are an aging group and our eventual demise may be inevitable if we can't entice along younger volunteers. This could be the same for us, if you have any ideas of how to attract younger people please shout up or if you do know of any younger (18+) people who would like to join, bring them along on a workday!

When I contacted SSNTV they also said that if any of our group fancied a change of scene we would be more than welcome at any of their workdays, if you would like to go along to any of there workdays then please email them directly all the details on their website https://ssntv.co.uk/current-events/. I’m sure if you wanted to join any other group you would be more than welcome too. I hope in future to meet up with more groups so that we don’t end up going the way Northumberland have.

Formby have sent sent their Autumn/Winter Edition of their Newsletter to us this includes :- Victoria Road Carpark Plans, Ranger tasks round up, Woodland conservation work update, A DIY step by step guide to making a garden bird feeder from a pinecone and just some of the ways Formby are working with and supporting the local community.  

Also attached is a sneak-peek at a new illustration, which will be part of our information signage going up on site during the Victoria Road project. This visual has been created to help explain the tasks involved in the project, how the sand dune habitat will be restored and to show what the sand dunes may look like after it is all completed.  

They also wished us a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year - We as a committee sent the Rangers a Christmas Card to show our appreciation for them and all the work they do. 

Chris Hunter Acting Area Ranger at Formby also sent us his Volunteer Impact Report, it’s an interesting read and we get an name check, along with Merseyside, the two groups donated a combined 516 hours of our time, all I can say to you now is Get In! and Thank You. 

News from Lyme:

Back in November, Alex Swift who is Volunteering and Community Manager at Lyme Park, sent us an email to tell us about the plans to upgrade the Admissions Hut at Lyme Park. Alex wrote to confirm that they have now submitted a planning application to make improvements to the admissions hut at Lyme. The application aims to increase efficiency and reduce queueing at the entrance to the estate, to reduce the impact of busy days on tenants, neighbours, visitors and Lyme team members.

 

The proposal is to create a new building at the site of the current hut. We intend to increase the number of windows to allow more transactions to be carried out simultaneously, in order to be more efficient in welcoming visitors to Lyme. The plans also allow for the hut to be reconfigured to allow payments to be taken on exit, which will reduce queueing into the estate on extremely busy days. - If you don’t mind me saying so I managed fairly well when I worked at Lyme nearly 15 years ago and that was with one window, I think there was only one Summer's Day when I heard over the Radio we were backing up onto the A6!

You can find summary boards outlining the key points of the application in the Timber Yard, at the Muddy Paws area during opening hour

Lyme also sent their Looking after Lyme newsletter - Winter 2024 

This edition features a Christmas look ahead, overview of recent conservation work on the east elevation of the house, and spotlight on the moorland and deer rut at Lyme.

News from the Lake District. 

Many of you know that with the pandemic that swept the world, the Trust has put an end to it’s working holidays for which the basecamps were an important part of. High Wray Basecamp close to the shores of Lake Windermere was mothballed, we had travelled there for a number of weekends, our last one in the Summer of 2019, so we were disappointed to hear this news. I kept in contact with Philippa on a sporadic basis and in August I made contact again and asked if there was any news about the basecamp, she said there was a meeting on 5th September, so I got back in touch and here is what she said “It brought cautiously good news!  It was more of a fact finding mission, the outcome is people would like to see the Basecamp come back but its going to have to be rebuilt so its sorting out the funding for that.  There is some funding set aside but that’s not available until 2027 so its still a case of watch this space!  I’m keeping positive about it.”  I too am keeping positive that we will eventually get back to High Wray Basecamp. 

Finally, I know it’s a very long way in advance but MNTV will be 40 in 2026 and we will be celebrating that milestone in June 2026, more information will be coming to you in Summer 2025. Did you know we have a tree at Lyme Park with our name and birthday on it!

It’s now the 20th December as you can see it has as usual taken me a while to write this “Keeping in Touch”, all my presents are wrapped and Christmas cards sent out. I think all that I need to say is on behalf of your Committee have a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous Hogmanay or New Year.

 

I look forward to seeing you all in 2025

 

Ally

Programme Planner

What's happening next year - MNTV Programme 2024

Hi Everyone

I started to write this as I enjoy my last long weekend off work of 2023.  It's busying up in Edinburgh and we are bracing ourselves for the Christmas rush.  I do get to escape from the seasonal rush for a short time, as I booked myself a first class train ticket and I am spending Christmas down in Manchester.  With the last workday of the year been and gone it's time to let you know what's in store for next year.  The Programme has as ever taken some organising with the last workday booked in just last week.  I have had a couple of emails from keen volunteers wanting to know when we are restarting so I guess it's about time I let you know what the highlights are for the year.  Time to get those diaries out...

Firstly, we have 2 weekends planned for you.

10 people went on our most recent weekend away two weeks ago in Snowdonia.  Everyone enjoyed the weekend so I have organised two weekends for next year.  The first is being billed as Summer at Calke Abbey.  Late last year I had an email from Vicky Naylor of Styal saying she was moving to Calke Abbey so I got in touch and asked if she was able to host us.  She and the rest of the rangers there would be delighted to so if you are planning your next year then please put in the diary Summer at Calke Abbey, 28th - 30th June 2024. 

Weekend no. 2 - when I was in Snowdonia I had a chat with Dylan and he said he wanted the basecamp, Hendre Isaf, to be available to all, particularly volunteering groups,  He also believes that if we are volunteering we shouldn't have to pay to stay.  He is one of a few that are working on this principle so when I got back from Snowdonia I booked us in for 6th to 8th December 2024 for Christmas in Cymru.  He has again kindly agreed to pay for our skills and time.  Did you know there are only two full time and one part time rangers on the Ysbyty Estate?  The estate covers over 8,000 hectares of high, wild open moorland, dramatic river valleys and 51 hill farms.  In comparison Lyme Park is a 1,400 acre estate and Styal has 400 acres and they have a lot more staff so I can understand why Dylan and his team are grateful for help.

 

With the weekends sorted what else is in store for the rest of 2024?  Strap yourselves in and let's take a journey through the year...

 

Christine led the last workday of 2023 at Styal and she has just signed up to lead the first workday of 2024 which will be at Styal on 7th January.  We are at Styal 9 more times during 2024.  Dunham is rethinking how to use volunteers so some of the Styal workdays may become Dunham days.  We will of course let you know where the workdays are.  Throughout the rest of January and February we stay close to home with workdays at Alderley, Lyme and Styal.  There is a new ranger at Alderley Edge and he snapped us up four times next year.  Our second visit is on 11th February.

March brings us to the start of our longer distance workdays.  I follow lots of NT properties on Facebook and Bickerton Hill posted about their volunteers.  I got in touch and said I have been trying to get hold of the rangers for about 4 years.  They got back to me with an email address and I'm delighted to say that after nearly 10 years away we will be back at Bickerton on 3rd March.  This will be a joint day with Merseyside.  We will be back at Bickerton twice more in 2024.  We also visit Chirk, Hayfield and Formby in March.

On 7th April we have our first visit to Hardcastle Crags and will be there twice more in 2024.  April also brings us Lyme, Styal and Formby.

May is always a quieter month for the group as there are two bank holidays.  On 19th May we head over the Mersey Bridge to Speke Hall.  It will be our only visit to Speke in 2024.  The other date in May is to Styal.

June brings us 4 workdays and our weekend at Calke Abbey.  We will be at Biddulph at the beginning of June, no doubt doing our annual job of putting in the Dahlia Stakes.  We hit the seaside at Formby on 9th June.  The week after we are at Erddig and we also manage to squeeze in a visit to Lyme too.

In July we have another joint workday with Merseyside, this time at Erddig  At the height of summer on 28th July we travel to Marsden Moor.  When I spoke to ranger Ian about what we did he was very much impressed and is very much looking forward to meeting us.

August has 3 workdays - 2 closer to home and 1 further afield.  On 11th August we take one of many trips to Lyme.  Lyme love having us and are always so grateful for our help.

September is another that has 5 workdays.  When I joined the group at Biddulph earlier this year we were taking out the dahlias.  Lesley suggested that we go there in August or September to see the dahlias in full bloom so we will be going to admire the dahlias on 22nd September.  We also travel to Formby, Styal, Chirk (this is with Merseyside) and we take another trip to Bickerton Hill.

On 6th October we take ourselves away from the hustle and bustle of city life for the second of 3 visits to Hayfield.  I know we are normally at Hayfield a lot more, but the team at Hayfield are very busy and could only fit us in in the cooler months.  We also travel to Formby, Bickerton and Lyme.

November takes us closer to home.  On 3rd November we return to Biddulph to perhaps take out the dahlias - because we are pros now!  We also travel to Alderley, Lyme and Hayfield.  Along with our Christmas in Cymru weekend December brings us a day at Alderley Edge and we finish the year like we started at Styal on 15th December.

 

I sent out the programme to the worksite leaders earlier this week so they could sign up and plan their bakes.  If you want to give leading a go do let either myself or another Worksite Leader know and we can talk you through it.  My thanks go to the worksite leaders for agreeing to lead.

 

When I emailed Dunham Massey for some workdays they were hesitant about giving any dates to us as they are rethinking how they use volunteers.  This means that Styal and Lyme have got a lot of dates next year as they are essentially my back up properties, so some of these days may change locations.  As soon as they do I will let you know.

Don't forget, if you would like to come on a workday then just wait for an email in the days prior to the workday.  That will give you all the details and just reply to that email to let us know you would like to join us for the day.

That is the programme out of the way, now for the fun stuff.

 

Some of you may know, others may not ... Ian Ford at Speke is having an operation on his foot and will be out of action for a wee while so we sent him a get well soon card and although he hasn't had his operation yet he did send us an email back saying "I have received a wonderful get well card from all in the Manchester Vols, please can I say a huge thank you, a lovely thought. My operation is now scheduled for the 11/01/2024 and I hope to be back on my feet to see you when you're next on site at Speke."

 

We have had a little bit of news from Formby.  A few days before I started writing this report we received an email from Chris and the team at Formby telling us:

 

I would like to share with you our finalised Volunteer Impact Report for this year, a document which we create each year to highlight some of the incredible accomplishments which volunteers achieve together with our small staff team.  It really does evidence how valuable volunteers are to what we achieve at Formby, and shows just how difficult our job would be without you all!

 

I hope the short report makes for interesting reading, and thank you all so much again for your support this year! 

 

Wishing you the most merriest of Christmases, and happiest of New Years! 🙂 We can't wait to work with you all again in 2024!

 

As it always takes me a few days to put this report together, emails come in and we have had an email from Vicky Blane the General Manager for Formby and Central Lancashire. She sends her thanks and all the best for the Festive Season.  She has also emailed the Formby Autumn/Winter Newsletter.

 

This edition includes the following highlights;

• Information on the winter conservation work happening in the Ravenmeols woodlands to create a healthier more diverse habitat for wildlife.
• A round-up of tasks the ranger team have been carrying out with the support of fantastic volunteers, over the past couple of months.
• An update on the annual tree safety inspections and work planned across the site this winter.
• A “Natter with” ranger Bree to find out more about initiatives she’s working on and her favourite spot to enjoy nature at NT Formby.

And Ranger Steve at Erddig also sent some news:

I wanted to share some rather good news for Erddig estate, a new project that we would very much like you all to be involved in.

 

We have been successful in securing a substantial grant to help us revitalise and rejuvenate an area of the estate down by Fellin Pulleston.  It will be a 18=month project including tree planting, path creation and repair, reactivation of old meadows and butterfly meadows and much more!

It will very much be in the type of the mindful meadow at Chirk Castle if you have seen that.

I have attached a plan showing the proposed vision for the area so please take a look.

I'm hoping it is something we can help with.

 

Lyme also sent their winter update. 

 

The last of the blog entries was posted earlier this week.  They are a great read and I very much enjoy both reading and writing them.  If you would like to have a go at writing one for a workday you are on just say!  Here are two photos from workdays in 2023 to show we are out working come rain or shine

 

Finally... I started writing this on 19th December on the bus home from my Mum and Dad's.  It's 21st December now and with Edinburgh Castle closed today due to a yellow weather warning for strong winds I took some annual leave and am finishing this email to you all.  I think all that I need to say is on behalf of your Committee have a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous Hogmanay or New Year.

I look forward to seeing you all in 2024.

 

Ally

Programme Planner

Work programme for 2020

A message to all members of Manchester NTV from Ally Hardy, Programme Planner

I write this as I enjoy a couple of days off work over the festive season.  As 2019 nears its end I think what a splendid year we had.  Surely 2020 can’t be any better, or can it?  It is time to get your diaries out because here’s what’s coming up next year …

Firstly, we have two weekends planned.  On 4^th-6^th September, after a year off, we are heading back to the Lake District for a weekend at High Wray basecamp.  We will be staying in the Acland Block and it will no doubt be a fun weekend.  Our second weekend is our annual Christmas weekend which next year comes to you on the 4^th-6^thDecember from Hendre Isaf basecamp in Snowdonia.  Join us for some Seasonal Celebrations.  If you would like to help lead either weekend then let one of the committee members know.

So, those are our weekends, but what about the 40 or so workdays?  Well, I'm pleased to announce that the worksites for the whole of 2020 have been confirmed!  Many of us have already earned a Volunteer Card (50-hour card) for the volunteering we have done with MNTV since 1^st April, but there are twelve workdays between now and 31^st March for the rest of us to reach that magic number!

On 5^th January I couldn’t get us a workday so there will be a Social walk led by Sue and Andy.  Look out for details of this soon on email, website and Facebook.  Our first workday is on 12^th January at Lyme Park.  We'll also be back there in March, April, November and December.  On 19^th January after nearly four years away we are delighted to be returning to Dunham Massey to help Head Ranger Craig (he used to work at Styal) with jobs around the estate.  We’ll be there plenty more times in 2020.  Our first longer distance day comes with a trip back to Hardcastle Crags on 26^thJanuary when we will be helping the Rangers with a special project called Slow the Flow https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hardcastle-crags/features/natural-flood-management.  We’ll be back at Hardcastle doing our normal jobs in February, June and July.

On 2^nd February we head back to the seaside at Formby to help the Ranger team with their magnificent landscape conservation.  Later in the month we also head to Styal, have the first of our two trips to Biddulph Grange Garden and we’ll be back at Hardcastle Crags too.  On 15^th March we have our first visit to Hayfield.  The task at the time of writing is Drains and Fence Repair.  We will be back at Hayfield at numerous times later in the year.  March also includes visits to Lyme, Dunham, Styal and the first of two trips to Speke.  In April, having missed out on it in 2019 due to helping repair flood damage in the park, Chris at Lyme has booked us for two consecutive weeks for drystone walling.  The days are 19^th and 26^th April.

In May there are two bank holidays and so we are having only three workdays in the month, these being at Dunham, Styal and Biddulph.  Gawthorpe and the Stubbins Estate was a very popular introduction to our worksites in 2019 and so on 7^th June we are returning there.  June also brings us Hardcastle, our first trip of the year to Thurstaston (21^stJune) and Styal.

In July, after six years away we are returning to Bickerton Hill on 5^th July to meet up with Ranger Rich to help him with a job or two in the Cheshire countryside.  This is our only visit to Bickerton in 2020 and one that I swapped with Lyme so let’s make it count.  In August we return to north Manchester (Gawthorpe and the Stubbins Estate) and also travel to Erddig on 23^rd August for the first of two trips there.

September brings us the Summer in the Lakes weekend plus a visit to Erddig and our only visit of the year to Marsden Moor (20^th September).  October brings us return visits to Thurstaston, Hayfield, Formby and Styal, and in November we have our last visit to Speke, a return visit to Lyme, a trip to Hayfield and our last visit of the year to Dunham.

In December we have our Seasonal Celebrations weekend in Snowdonia, one last visit to Hayfield and on 20^thDecember join our Chairman Daniel for a Christmas workday at Lyme.  He has promised to bake some Christmas treats so why would you want to miss those?

We hope to see as many of you as possible on each workday in 2020 and if you have not yet joined us on a workday then let 2020 be that year.

Ally Hardy

Programme Planner