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Friday, 20 March 2015
Pub quiz at The Plough, Heaton Moor on Monday 16 March 2015
Seven of us met up tonight at The Plough in Heaton Moor for their Monday night pub quiz. Tim Leadbetter was over from Dublin - tomorrow (Saint Patrick's Day) is a bank holiday. Sadly, the quiz had deteriorated a lot since we last did it and only six teams took part and three of those left midway through! The quiz was a comedy of errors with the barmaid faltering her way through the questions, anagrams that contained wrong letters and a mix up at the end with the marking. NB some of the Dingbats were superb. We had a good laugh though and Phil remarked that it had become a comedy night. After the quiz we all played Rock & Roll Bingo and Andy scooped the jackpot!
Sunday, 15 March 2015
Fence painting and rhody bashing at Speke on Sunday 15th March 2015
A couple of different tasks for the group today.
First off, painting the fence around the staff and kitchen part of the Marquee on the wildflower meadow. We had helped create the meadow by clearing the area of hay a couple of years before.
The Marquee is hired out for weddings and other events and is a five year trial. If successful, the Trust will replace it with a more permanent structure.
While part of the point of the painting was to slap on some preservative onto the wooden fence, it was also intended to make it less conspicuous. The Ranger felt the finished result did this very well.
With nine people from MNTV and three from our Cheshire sister group (plus two from Merseyside), the outside of the fence was painted by lunchtime.
As bits available for painting dwindled, several of the group headed off into Stockton Wood next to the car park to hunt down rhododendron that had escaped previous clearances.
After lunch, the rest of the group joined in, with just a couple of people working on the inside of the fence. Nearly as much time was spent searching for rhododendron to cut as cutting it, as various volunteer groups over the years have cut and burned most of what was there.
Text and photo's provided by Mick.
First off, painting the fence around the staff and kitchen part of the Marquee on the wildflower meadow. We had helped create the meadow by clearing the area of hay a couple of years before.
The Marquee is hired out for weddings and other events and is a five year trial. If successful, the Trust will replace it with a more permanent structure.
While part of the point of the painting was to slap on some preservative onto the wooden fence, it was also intended to make it less conspicuous. The Ranger felt the finished result did this very well.
After lunch, the rest of the group joined in, with just a couple of people working on the inside of the fence. Nearly as much time was spent searching for rhododendron to cut as cutting it, as various volunteer groups over the years have cut and burned most of what was there.
Sunday, 8 March 2015
Hawthorn planting at Biddulph Grange Garden on 8 March 2015
Ten of us were at Biddulph today planting hawthorn trees. We worked with gardeners Jon, Bob and Rob and planted the trees in three areas. The main area was around the entrance to the driveway to the overflow carpark, the second was against the fences around the gardeners' toolstore/yard and the third was against the perimeter fence off the Long Walk.
Sadly we did not have yesterday's beautiful weather and it rained continuously from 10:30 until 1:30pm. We were glad the volunteers' brew room (adjacent to the rangers' toolstore) was close by so we could take shelter from the worst of the rain. Before lunch we spent fifteen minutes filling two cold frames with gravel.
After lunch Jon showed us the dahlias in the greenhouse. The beds where they will be planted were pointed out to us later. The weather improved a lot after 2 o'clock and it was ironic that when we left at 3:30 the sun was shining!
Sadly we did not have yesterday's beautiful weather and it rained continuously from 10:30 until 1:30pm. We were glad the volunteers' brew room (adjacent to the rangers' toolstore) was close by so we could take shelter from the worst of the rain. Before lunch we spent fifteen minutes filling two cold frames with gravel.
After lunch Jon showed us the dahlias in the greenhouse. The beds where they will be planted were pointed out to us later. The weather improved a lot after 2 o'clock and it was ironic that when we left at 3:30 the sun was shining!
Sunday, 1 March 2015
Tree thinning at Hayfield on Sunday 1st March
Ten of us joined 4 High Peak Rangers and their 3 dogs at Hayfield. The day started bright but unfortunately, later in the afternoon, it deteriorated into rain and sleet resulting in an early finish!
As planned, we met at 9.30am in the Sett Valley Trail car park and then drove to near Ashes Farm, where we left our cars, and piled into the National Trust mini-bus, to travel the rest of the way.
We were working in a couple of the plantations at Ashes Farm, thinning trees and making wood piles of the offcut branches. We also cut away the bark around the perimeter of some of the larger trees to create standing dead wood.
We had plenty of cake! - Karin made some wonderful flap jack, Sue D brought some delicious fruit cake and Sue B took some tasty banana loaf!
The bad weather started around 2pm when it began to rain which turned to sleet. The NT Rangers had to stop using the chain saws for safety reasons so, as the rest of us were quite wet by this point, we all decided to call it a day.
We loaded the tools back into the NT mini-bus for a return journey, but had enough time to pose for a group photo before leaving.
Despite the weather, as always, we look forward to a return visit to Hayfield in the Dark Peak.
As planned, we met at 9.30am in the Sett Valley Trail car park and then drove to near Ashes Farm, where we left our cars, and piled into the National Trust mini-bus, to travel the rest of the way.
We were working in a couple of the plantations at Ashes Farm, thinning trees and making wood piles of the offcut branches. We also cut away the bark around the perimeter of some of the larger trees to create standing dead wood.
We had plenty of cake! - Karin made some wonderful flap jack, Sue D brought some delicious fruit cake and Sue B took some tasty banana loaf!
The bad weather started around 2pm when it began to rain which turned to sleet. The NT Rangers had to stop using the chain saws for safety reasons so, as the rest of us were quite wet by this point, we all decided to call it a day.
We loaded the tools back into the NT mini-bus for a return journey, but had enough time to pose for a group photo before leaving.
Despite the weather, as always, we look forward to a return visit to Hayfield in the Dark Peak.
Sunday, 22 February 2015
Log splitting at Styal on Sunday 22nd February 2015
Unfortunately the weather made a turn from bad to awful and we finished early, being tagged out by the junior rangers. I think Simon was quite pleased with how much we achieved in the conditions.
Thanks for all the hard work volunteers! See you all soon.
Lisa
Sunday, 15 February 2015
Rhody bash at Lyme Park on Sunday 15th Feb 2015
Another great turnout with 15 of us rhody bashing in Lyme Park including 7 'newbies'.
We met in the main carpark but took a while to sort out which cars we would take to the smaller Knott car park and who would share lifts with who. It worked out okay though as we were waiting for a couple of new ladies who had had got the train from Manchester to Disley station and were still walking up the main drive to meet us. Once we realised this, Craig (NT Ranger) headed off in his vehicle to pick them up and then we all headed off to Knott car park. Once we were parked, we climbed up onto the ridge on the left and walked to just below Paddock Cottage. Luckily we were going to be working on a relatively flat area and there was a previous firesite that we could re-use to get a fire going, which was a bonus! - Adrian quickly got a fire started.
We spread out along the length of the rhody 'hedge' and worked hard to cut down the rhody branches, drag them nearer to the fire, where others were cutting the branches into smaller lengths to be burnt on the fire.
The weather was crisp and dry and the views were wonderful!
A few volunteers couldn't stay all day so left around lunchtime, so our numbers fluctuated a little. Fortunately for Sue (worksite leader), Tricia kindly donated her lunch before she left because, for the first time in over 15years of being a NT volunteer, Sue had forgotten her rucksack containing her lunch as well as her work boots! Her wellies were in her car boot so she wore those and didn't starve because of Tricia's delicious lunch:-) Sue's excuse for this lapse in memory was that she'd been so busy making sure she took her home-baked lemon drizzle cake for our mid-morning break, that everything else went out of her head!
We had a great day.
By late morning, parking spaces at Lyme were in short supply with cars queuing on the A6 to get in, so Craig had to head off to supervise the parking. A bit later, Jamie(Ranger) and a DofE helper came along to assist us and Chris (Lyme Lead Ranger), who was on his day off and running through Lyme Park, heard we were on site and found where we were to say 'hello'. Later in the afternoon, Sue D who is a Lyme Ranger and a MNTVer, came over to see how we were getting on and have a chat.
It was a busy but very enjoyable day and, at the end of the afternoon, most of us were still on site to have our photo taken.
Grateful thanks to Tricia for giving Sue her butties!
We met in the main carpark but took a while to sort out which cars we would take to the smaller Knott car park and who would share lifts with who. It worked out okay though as we were waiting for a couple of new ladies who had had got the train from Manchester to Disley station and were still walking up the main drive to meet us. Once we realised this, Craig (NT Ranger) headed off in his vehicle to pick them up and then we all headed off to Knott car park. Once we were parked, we climbed up onto the ridge on the left and walked to just below Paddock Cottage. Luckily we were going to be working on a relatively flat area and there was a previous firesite that we could re-use to get a fire going, which was a bonus! - Adrian quickly got a fire started.
The weather was crisp and dry and the views were wonderful!
A few volunteers couldn't stay all day so left around lunchtime, so our numbers fluctuated a little. Fortunately for Sue (worksite leader), Tricia kindly donated her lunch before she left because, for the first time in over 15years of being a NT volunteer, Sue had forgotten her rucksack containing her lunch as well as her work boots! Her wellies were in her car boot so she wore those and didn't starve because of Tricia's delicious lunch:-) Sue's excuse for this lapse in memory was that she'd been so busy making sure she took her home-baked lemon drizzle cake for our mid-morning break, that everything else went out of her head!
We had a great day.
By late morning, parking spaces at Lyme were in short supply with cars queuing on the A6 to get in, so Craig had to head off to supervise the parking. A bit later, Jamie(Ranger) and a DofE helper came along to assist us and Chris (Lyme Lead Ranger), who was on his day off and running through Lyme Park, heard we were on site and found where we were to say 'hello'. Later in the afternoon, Sue D who is a Lyme Ranger and a MNTVer, came over to see how we were getting on and have a chat.
It was a busy but very enjoyable day and, at the end of the afternoon, most of us were still on site to have our photo taken.
Grateful thanks to Tricia for giving Sue her butties!
Monday, 9 February 2015
Hedgelaying at Alderley Edge on 8 February 2015
15 of us, including a newbie and couple of recent starters, braved the wilds of Alderley Edge to continue the hedgelaying task that was started in January. We split into groups tackling the hedge, the fire and taking down the wire fencing. Tim the ranger told us that some members of the public would be paying to have a go at hedgelaying soon so we were very lucky to be getting to do it for free!!
A fire saga ensued, possibly due to us working in rather dense fog. To Adrian's credit he did not give up and, assisted by lots of the group, got a fantastic fire going by the afternoon! We battled thorns and sheep and in my (possibly biased) opinion did the best job of hedgelaying I have ever seen. Whatever is left will likely be our job for our next trip out to Alderley so hopefully we will see you all again for round 3 on 22 March.
Thanks to everyone for making it a great first leading experience for me. Even more fancy cakes are promised for next time. A special thank you to Tim, John, Matt S and Mick for showing their groups how to manage the task and for keeping things on track through the day. Lisa
A fire saga ensued, possibly due to us working in rather dense fog. To Adrian's credit he did not give up and, assisted by lots of the group, got a fantastic fire going by the afternoon! We battled thorns and sheep and in my (possibly biased) opinion did the best job of hedgelaying I have ever seen. Whatever is left will likely be our job for our next trip out to Alderley so hopefully we will see you all again for round 3 on 22 March.
After the mile walk back involving mud slides and areas looking like something out of Wuthering Heights a rather muddy group arrived back at the car park. A few of us headed to the pub for a hot drink or pint.
Thanks to everyone for making it a great first leading experience for me. Even more fancy cakes are promised for next time. A special thank you to Tim, John, Matt S and Mick for showing their groups how to manage the task and for keeping things on track through the day. Lisa
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