Pub quiz at The Hesketh on Monday 8th April 2019

Nine of us met tonight for our first social of the year - dinner and a quiz at The Hesketh in Cheadle Hulme.  Most of us ate from 7:30pm before the quiz began at 8:30 and those that didn't (Sue and Andy) had the £1 pizza slices at the interval.  It was good to catch up with people's news before the quiz began.

There were too many of us to allow easy (and quiet!) conferring so we split into two teams, one of which (DDMP - can you match that name to the faces below?) did quite well and came fourth overall.

Thanks to everyone for coming and to Sue and Denise for organising the evening.

Daniel

Eleven go to Wharfedale - Sun, Leeks, Cake and even more Cake

Starring: from MNTV Ally, Jenny, John W, Mick S, Neil, Pip and from MNTEV Jacky, John H, Jonty, Mick and Morag

Guest Starring: Newly Qualified Ranger Shelly 

Act 1

Manchester and Merseyside NTV joined forces for our Wonderful Wharfedale weekend.  It was, as in previous years, our annual spring weekend and with a change in weekend venues we headed to the beautiful Yorkshire Dales and so on Friday 5 April eleven volunteers arrived at Townhead Barn in Buckden.  Jenny, Neil and Ally headed to the newly opened Buck Inn with Jonty and Morag for a pre-dinner drink and John W joined shortly afterwards.  Drinks finished, Jonty and Morag headed back to the barn and the other four tucked in to dinner at the pub.  Having nearly finished their dinners they were approached by a gentleman asking if we were from MNTV.  We confirmed that yes we were and so John H from MNTEV sat down with us and had his meal.  Meals completed we returned to the basecamp to find that Mick and Pip had arrived, as had Mick and Jacky who along with Jonty and Morag were tucking into Haggis Wellington.  Wellington eaten we all swapped stories and went off to bed.

Act 2

Saturday dawned bright and sunny.  Breakfast was eaten and the smoke alarm went off due to the toaster being on a too high setting for hot cross buns!  Windows opened we finished breakfast and made our packed lunches.  At 9:15 we were to be met by Ranger Shelly at base and were to follow her up the valley to Yockenthwaite.  It was at this point we discovered that Mick S had slept very poorly that night so he would not be joining us.  Our task for the next 1.5 days was to remove tree guards from trees planted about 12 years ago.  They were located on a steep slope so we spread out across the side of the hill - some went right to the top and others stayed down near the bottom.  We had to tear the tree guards - easier said than done as the perforation didn’t start at the very top so we had to use secateurs to cut the top section then we were able to rip the plastic off.  Some trees had already burst through the guards and some were easier to get off as they weren’t quite so tightly attached.  It was commented on that it was strange how some trees had grown well and others had not.  Upon taking the guards off we found the trees underneath were quite often wet due to rain getting in.  Some weren’t just wet, they had woodlice and one even had slime underneath the guard!

Three different cakes were available at lunch - Jenny’s Chocolate Chilli Brownies and Lemon Drizzle Cake, and Ally’s Marble Cake.  All were delicious.  After lunch, Jonty left us to travel to Hartlepool to teach a Safety in Water training course and we carried on with our work.  The tree guards were made of green plastic and we had to bundle them up and put them in heavy duty farmers' sheep feed bags.  Bundling them together made them look like leeks so they became known as the leeks.

The leeks!

After lunch, Pip, Ally and Shelly collected up the sacks of “leeks” and took them down to Shelly’s truck.  The others carried on with taking the tree guards off and bundling them into the sacks.  We worked so hard that we got the whole task done in one day!  At 4pm Ally called a close to the day.  We were all a little bit red from the sun and in need of a shower.  Shelly thanked us for all our help and making her first job without the supervision of another Ranger so easy – any time Shelly.  We walked back to the cars via the bridge; some did look at going across the river but decided sensibly not to, even though Morag and John W had managed earlier.  We travelled back to the barn where we relaxed and had showers.  Mick S appeared back from his walk.

This is where the weekend changed from normal.  No evening meal had to be prepared because we were eating at the Buck Inn.  At about 6:30 we walked 300 yards to the pub, got ourselves drinks and sat down for our pre-ordered dinner.  John H wasn’t sure he had ordered anything but Ally said he had and as there was Wi-Fi she was able to prove he had by producing his email on her phone.  The Steak and Ale pie was a popular choice with four people having that including John H.  Other choices were Scampi, Fish and Chips, Hunter's Chicken, Burger, Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry, and Leek, Potato and Cheese Pie.  Although service was slow due to another big group overall everyone enjoyed their meal.  Afterwards John H left to head back to Liverpool because he was flying to Vienna on the Sunday for a conference and the others headed back to the barn to partake in some of the carrot cake that Jacky had picked up in Costco.  It was enormous and had too many nuts in for Ally’s liking.

Act 3

Sunday dawned bright but not quite as sunny as Saturday and as we had finished our task for the weekend yesterday we had a lie in.  Breakfast was a casual affair with a choice of bacon, beans and eggs as well as cereal, toast and of course the aforementioned hot cross buns.  We also made our packed lunches as we weren’t sure what we were doing.  John W suggested a walk along the valley and then back over the shoulder of the hill to Buckden.  Five people took this route whilst three of the Merseysiders went for a shorter walk in the direction of Redmire Wood, last year's weekend worksite.  Neil decided to stay behind and read the newspaper - he said his poor knees wouldn't cope with the planned route.

The five that went for a walk down the valley went along the river to Starbotton and sat at the side of the road eating leftover cake, even offering it to a passing cyclist – he almost stopped!  The route was then steeply uphill and we took a break part way up the hill and of course ate more cake and offered it to passing walkers.  This time, apart from one man, they stopped and ate it!  Returning at about 2pm, the three that had gone in the direction of Redmire Wood were back and Neil had finished reading the paper.  We packed up our food and our luggage and divided up the food that wouldn’t last until our next weekend in July, Summer in Snowdonia, and headed for home.

I’m not sure if we will be returning to Wharfedale in 2020 as I’ve promised High Wray, as we are not travelling there this year, we would be returning in 2020.  What I will say is that the sun shone all weekend and the company wasn’t bad either.  I would like to thank Jenny and Neil for their help with the weekend, Merseyside for joining us and to those of you who came from MNTV you are the best.  To everyone else, where were you?

Wonderful Wharfedale 2019 – Done!

Here's to next time MNTV!

*CANCELLED* Workday at Bosley Cloud on Sunday 31st March 2019

Today's workday at Bosley Cloud was cancelled owing to lack of interest, perhaps because today is Mother's Day.

Daniel

Ragwort pulling at Formby on Sunday 24th March 2019

Today was our first workday at Formby since 30th November 2014!  Seven of us including two newcomers made the journey to the coast (three car sharing from Styal) and had an excellent day in the sunshine with rangers Justin and Hallam.  Hallam has been at Formby for only four weeks and until then worked at Hare Hill!

Our task for the day was ragwort pulling in a field a short walk from the rangers' office.  Ragworts are mildly poisonous to sheep, cows and horses and the intention is to introduce sheep into the field later in the year.  We were each armed with a rag-fork (perfectly designed for the job at hand) and a large nylon bulk bag and worked in ones and twos near the field entrance prising the ragworts out of the soft sandy soil and tossing them into the bags.

Coffee break was taken in the field (and coincided with a red squirrel appearing in the trees behind us!  Well spotted Hallam!) and lunch followed at picnic tables behind the rangers' office.

The field was next to a footpath and during the day passers-by asked us over and over what we were doing and why.  Come 3pm the bags were so full that it was difficult to drag them round the field so we collected everything by the entrance gate and called it a day and let Justin know by walkie-talkie.

Team selfie!

Daniel

Wood clearance and path work at Styal on Sunday 17th March 2019

Today’s main task was continuing a woodland clearance project in Chapel Woods at Styal. The rangers have been doing this for a while now, and several members of the public commented on the positive impact the work has already had. We also did some footpath work in the woods.

We met just after an almighty hailstorm, and endured a few more sharp showers through the morning but enjoyed pleasant sunshine in the afternoon.

We were taking out some squirrel damaged trees plus a few others that were leaning over close to the path.

Ranger Craig also felled one large mature tree with the chainsaw, expertly dropping it across the ‘cut through’ that we wanted to stop people from using. The tree then formed a handy perch at lunchtime!

While some of us worked on the clearance, another group went uphill reinforce the edge of the path above the river. This involved barrowing stone to the site, and laying and compacting the stone along the edge of the path. Later this will be topped with other materials to finish the surface. 

By 3pm we’d finished both the clearance and the path, another job well done.

Rhodybash at Lyme Park on Sunday 10th March 2019

Eight of us met in the rain at Lyme Park today for a rhodybash in Coalpit Clough.  For the first time that Daniel remembers he began a workday dressed in full waterproofs!  Rather dispiriting!

The contractors had been on site last week and with their remote-controlled 'robobasher' and excavator cleared a lot of rhody on the flat margins of the Clough.  The steep ground inside the clough is inaccessible to machines hence the need for humans!

Throughout the morning the rain, sleet and snow fell and the rhody was cold and wet.  Dan, ranger, battled to get a fire going which, on account of no wind assistance, he had to keep alive with frequent blows from the leaf blower.

We ate half a sultana cake between us for elevenses then carried on bashing the rhody until lunch at 12:30.  The weather took a further turn for the worse soon after and with worse still forecast Dan called off the workday at 1:30.  The walk back to our cars across the moor was a 'heads down into the gale' trudge and we were all glad to get back to the shelter of cars/car park and warm up.

Daniel

Workday at Hayfield on Sunday 3rd March 2019

Five of us plus Matt the ranger met up at the car park in Hayfield and then shared cars up to South Head Farm.  On the way up to the farm by the hairpin bend are a few trees planted by a stream, one of which we planted in memory of our friend and former MNTV member Susan Tarr.  Unfortunately the tree we planted didn’t survive last year's dry summer so we replaced it with a new alder sapling.

After our mid-morning break with sticky ginger and lemon drizzle cake, we made our way up the track nearby.  Those of you who came out to Hayfield last summer and cleared the drains up the track will be pleased to know that the hard work was not in vain, the rain water was running off the road as intended.  We went further up the track clearing pebbles that had being washed into the road drains on the way.

It was obvious where the work stopped last time and we continued up the hill clearing drains and filling in the deep (30cm) potholes in the track. The local farmer uses the track but the NT fire truck has limited ground clearance, and after the fires last year they were keen to level off the track.  A while after lunch the tops of the hills disappeared in the cloud and after filling in another few potholes we called it a day and headed home, just before the rain got heavier.

Jenny