Rhodybashing at Thurstaston on 10 December 2017 - cancelled

The forecast of snow/bad weather put paid to today's planned rhodybash at Thurstaston on the Wirral.

It's always disappointing to lose a workday but we have been lucky that this is the first one lost to bad weather in 2017.

See you next week at Alderley Edge for hedge laying.

Daniel

"Season's Greetings" at MADS Little Theatre, Macclesfield

This evening, six of us went to see MADS's production of Sir Alan Ayckbourn's "Season's Greetings".  Jenny Pitcock (one of our members) was Stage Manager and head of set construction.

The play was a hilarious sitcom (a blend of Christmas, family tensions, alcohol, a barmy uncle, Three Little Pigs puppet show and inappropriate presents) and the actors were excellent.  They must have spent hours rehearsing.  The set built by Jenny and her team looked terrific and cleverly showed the four areas in which the play unfolded (sitting room, dining room, hall and stairs).

Thanks to Jenny for bringing the play to our attention.  We all had a great time!

Daniel

MNTV and the Season's Greetings' cast

The tinsel is out, the bakes are baked and Santa is coming too. Yuletide in Yorkshire 2017

Starring:- Matt, Lisa, Geraldine, Madeleine, Tim, Ally, Neil, Pip, Mick and Peter the Ranger

My journey from Edinburgh started with a train trip to Skipton via the very scenic Carlisle to Settle railway travelling through Garsdale station which I am familiar with. There was some snow at Garsdale. I then passed through Dent station which is "The Highest Main Line Station in England".  It is situated 1150 feet above sea level.  It was then all downhill to Skipton, of course, crossing the famous Ribblehead Viaduct and passing Yorkshire's 3 peaks - Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent.

Pen-y-Ghent, the lowest of Yorkshire's 3 peaks

Once at Skipton I was met by Neil. We headed towards the basecamp in Upper Wharfedale but not before checking out the onesies on the market as we drove past.  Once out of Skipton and heading up the dale we stopped in Kettlewell to scout out where we were going to eat dinner later, as the Buck Inn at Buckden is currently closed for refurbishment as it has recently been taken over by new management.  We made our way to Townhead Barn, our base for the next two nights, and made ourselves at home.  (Note to self for next time: take a teabag or two so we can enjoy a hot drink before the stores box arrives later in the evening).  We headed back down the valley to Kettlewell for dinner and crossed paths with Tim on the way so we went back to fetch him and the 3 of us headed to The Bluebell Inn which was quite busy, which didn't surprise us as the Buck Inn was closed as was the Fox and Hounds in Starbotton (next village along).  Once dinner was finished we headed back to base, Tim found himself a bed and we sat and swapped stories whilst we waited for the others to arrive.

Saturday dawned cool and the cloud was hanging low over the valley.  Ranger Peter met us at base and told us that our worksite was across the valley so there was no need for us to drive.  We were to be working in Redmire Wood clearing cherry laurel.  We set off for the short walk to the worksite. Redmire Wood was created for Buckden House (now an outdoor adventure centre) which was the residence of Sir John Charles Ramsden and his wife during 1831-1879.  It was then lived in and cared for by the Stansfield Family until 1938.  The woods themselves were used as a pleasure park and so had lots of interesting and occasionally rare trees.  There are many carriage tracks going up the side of the hill for the residents and guests of the house to enjoy views of the valley.  The laurel had been left and is out of control, so we are carrying on the task of getting rid of it, a task we have been doing for our past visits to Buckden.  There is a lot of laurel to get rid of.

We spent our time lopping, dragging, chopping and burning the cherry laurel.  Neil put in sterling work as the fire master and before long we had a superb fire.  At break time we enjoyed my chocolate brownies and Lisa's son's ginger loaf.  Both were a big hit.  After first break, Matt and Lisa headed back to the base camp to start cooking our evening meal.  More on that later.  The rest of us carried on working, clearing a considerable amount which was actually only a small area compared to the vast amount on the hillside.  This is our third year doing this task and those of us who had been on other weekends here can certainly see a difference.  After lunch, which included rolls made by Lisa's son Ben, who is a keen baker and cake maker - he is looking to get a job in that field - Madeline and Geraldine took over looking after the fire.  We finished work at 3pm so whilst Peter took some of the group to see four very tall Giant Redwood trees higher up in the forest, three of us stayed behind as we had seen them before, and tended the fire and tidied up.  Once the 7 of us were reunited at the worksite we grabbed our things and made our way back to base.

Upon arrival back at base Matt and Lisa were busy in the kitchen - they had all the timings of what should be in the oven when, planned to perfection.  We showered and changed into nice clean clothes, some people put their onesies on and others put their pyjamas on.  Dinner was served about 7pm and the table groaned with pain as it was laden with food.  There were 2 types of potatoes, 4 types of vegetables, of course turkey, pigs in blankets, gravy and stuffing!  Thank you and well done to Lisa and Matt for cooking it for us all.  After our first course we then all felt stuffed and decided it was probably sensible to not have pudding quite yet so we did some washing up and then opened our Secret Santa presents all of which were gratefully received.  Pudding time came and it was sticky toffee pudding - we all felt even more stuffed than we had after the first course.

We took a closer look at some of the Secret Santa gifts (Pip was particularly happy with hers) and stack the chairs without knocking them over.  We had had quite a long day so some people headed to bed sooner than others, some played Cards against Humanity (hilarious) and others chatted before we all went to bed.

Sunday was bright but cloudy and it was decided we would go for a short walk.  We breakfasted and Tim headed off home while the rest of us headed for a walk in the direction of Hubberholme and back.  Once back at base we made some lunch, some headed off for a picnic and others ate at base and then departed for home.

To sum up the weekend I will leave you with these words: lots of work done, too much food eaten and not enough sleep had!  I ache all over!  See you next time, MNTV

Have a very Merry Christmas and I will see you in 2018

Ally

Working in the wood yard at Styal on Sunday 26th November 2017

Just 5 of us went to Styal, on a day that was cold and rainy, but we still managed to get quite a bit done though.

The tasks included digging in a wooden frame to make a bed for heeling in saplings which are awaiting transplanting to their permanent home.

Tidying up the yard and finishing off a fence which had been started by Chester group in the week, the fence is to make the yard more secure and to prevent children playing in it.

We also raised the height of the access gate to the yard and a secondary gate which is to give access to the wood at the rear.

Text & photo's by Adrian.

Rhody bash at Hayfield on Sunday 19th November 2017

Nine of us gathered in the Sett Valley Trail car park at 9.30am to meet up with Shane, Miles and Mark, the Kinder, Edale and Dark Peak Rangers. Also we met with David, a free-lance reporter and photographer, who stayed with us for our workday to find out about MNTV, what we do and why we do it!
From the car park, we moved our vehicles to Park Hall to find out what we would be doing during the day.
The morning was to be spent walking through the moors, spread out to cover as large an area as we could between us, trying to spot re-growth of rhody that could be pulled up with their roots. These were then shaken to get most of the 'soil' off and left to dry out so they couldn't re-root.

Walking the moors, trying to spot rhody re-growth

After we all had met back at the cars, it was very late for our morning break but too early for lunch. We had a debate and decided to just have our break so I got out the (shop bought!!) cakes to share around. Once finished, we went to find Shane so we'd know what we would be doing next, but he was being interviewed by David, so we decided to have our lunch as well:-)
By the time we'd finished eating, Shane was able to tell us that we'd be cutting down the established rhody close to where the cars were - so we set to it!

Working hard

As we were working and chatting, we saw the ducks that lived on the pond at Park Hall, a couple of peacocks, heard about the swimming pool (no longer in use!) towards the back of the patch we were cutting and about how it was hoped to create bat highways soon by cutting back the tree's and branches that were too close to the power lines. Such a great way to spend an afternoon.

In the thick of it!

Six of us then went back on the moors with Mark to find more rhody, so we could 'pose' for a photo for David, to accompany his article for the Trust. He hopes it will be accepted by local newspapers and will also help to advertise the great times we have whilst volunteering with MNTV!!!!!

'Posing!!'

Photo's by Adrian

Rhody bash at Lyme Park on Sunday 12th November 2017

Blue skies and a fresh, chill wind, accompanied the group working in Lantern Wood today.

As is usual with rhodybashing, a satisfactory amount was cleared and burnt by the 10 enthusiastic volunteers, fuelled by some very nice cake.

Although there is still a fair bit of rhododendron left in Lantern Wood and a few other spots around the park, the Rangers are starting to think of a time when Lyme Park no longer had a rhody problem!

Text provided by Mick. Photo's by Karin and Adrian.

Fencing work at Hardcastle Crags on 5 November 2017

Today, a select group of three made the hour's journey from Styal to Hardcastle Crags for our third visit of the year.  Harry, one of the three, was a newbie and we assured him that turnouts are usually higher (5 to 10) and sometimes a lot higher (15 last week).

We met Natalie Pownall, Academy Ranger, in the car park at the end of Midgehole Road then drove in her estate vehicle up to the top of Pecket Well.  Today's task was preparatory work ahead of a group upgrading stock fencing around a field.  In all, we carried 60 fence posts approximately 200 metres down to the fence line, set most of them beside the rotten fence posts they will replace and cut back branches overhanging the fence line.

The sun shone down all and we enjoyed a splendid view at lunchtime from a bench beside the Pecket Well war memorial across the Gibson Mill valley to the tiny village of Heptonstall with Hebden Bridge and Stoodley Pike beyond.

Daniel