Biddulph Grange 31 August 2014

Nine volunteers turned out and spent the day working in the area of Wellingtonia Avenue (also known as the long walk).  The work consisted of removing the remains of a yew hedge which is getting in the way of grass cutting, and removing invading scrubby trees (mostly birch and pussy willow) from what were grassy banks on either side.

At the end of the day 2 newer volunteers were given a whistle stop tour of the garden, and we were all treated to tea and biscuits in the garden room.

Balsam bashing on Speke estate: Sunday 17th Aug 2014

Seven of us met in the car park of the Speke estate and went to find Norman, the assistant Ranger, who took us over to the dam to where the balsam was. As we started to pull up the balsam, evidence showed that many other groups had obviously done this previously!

It was definitely a 'sunshine and showers' day, alternating between us working in our T-shirts and almost sunbathing at lunchtime, to short showers where we were rushing to get our jackets on to keep dry.

We were very fortunate that, at coffee and lunch time, the weather was lovely, so we were able to just sit on the field while we ate and admire the view.

We did our best with bashing the balsam, pulling up and breaking the stems of many many plants so their seed pods didn't scatter, but there was so much there that we really only made a small impact on it. Nonetheless, we felt we had made a difference and were pleased with what we have achieved. We spotted some wildlife while we worked; little frogs that were being disturbed as we pulled on the balsam roots and 1000's of black ladybird-type insects(see photo)!



We finished at 3pm and, before heading off home, we decided to go round the maze to find out what it was like. We surprisingly completed it very quickly but soon discovered that there was a reason for this as, when we came out and read the instructions on the board by the entrance, we realised we should have been finding each of the 12 metal gates within the maze on our way round - woops!...didn't do that!

Despite the showers, it was a great day out, with a couple of new volunteers joining us:-)

MNTV Social: Guided walk around Altrincham and Dunham Massey on Saturday 16th August 2014

Liz, Hazel and Sue met outside the Griffin at Bowden at 10.45am:-)

Liz, who had kindly offered to lead the walk, was armed with many interesting facts which she shared with us as we started to walk towards the centre of Altrincham, passing Chapel Street, famous for providing so many volunteers to fight in the trenches of WW1 and, for doing so, was aptly dubbed as 'the bravest little street in England' by King George V.

Onward we went and visited the Market Hall before heading for the Town Hall, which Hazel realised was open. Being a keen local historian, Hazel took us inside and showed us around, including taking us into the Council Chambers where we admired the stained glass window.

Council Chambers stained glass window

As we continued our journey and headed towards the old market square (thought to stand on the site of the original town settlement), Liz told us that Altrincham was granted Market Charter status in 1290 by King Edward I, enabling it to be a self-governing township. We walked past the Old Market Tavern which was originally an old Coaching Inn, and headed out of Altrincham towards St Margaret's Church whilst hearing a brief history of 300 years of Booth and Grey family dramas!

From there we headed towards Dunham Massey, passing Dunham Village, as Liz told us about the Earls of Stamford and the WW1 Stamford Military Hospital with Dunham’s role as a First World War auxiliary hospital from April 1917 to January 1919.

After walking through Dunham Massey park, spotting lots of deer as we went, we headed over the golf course and back to the Griffin for a bite to eat.

It was a great day, dry and bright, and interesting hearing all the facts that Liz had gathered, combined with the information that Hazel added. The timing was also spot on - Liz said we'd be back at the Griffin by 1.30pm and we were!!

Thanks to Liz, supported by Hazel, for a lovely day:-)

Scrub clearance at Hare Hill on 10 August 2014

Five volunteers braved Hurrican Bertha and turned up to help in the woodland garden at Hare Hill. The task was clearing brambles, nettles, shrubs and trees from part of the perimeter fencing, so that the (no longer) rabbit-proof mesh could be checked and, where necessary, replaced.  The day finished earlier than usual due to the volunteers being in need of a warm bath and clean, dry clothing and also because we finished the last stretch of fencing.

The tea break and end-of-task lunch were both taken in the information room, so we had the luxury of a table from which to eat our food (including a fine cherry cake). The group is back at Hare Hill in a few weeks and the task may include replacing the rabbit-proof mesh now that it is accessible.

Log splitting at Styal on 3 August 2014

There were eleven of us today including two newcomers, continuing the run of good turnouts.  Simon Hiley had planned two jobs for us in/near the toolstore yard and therefore, unusually, the worksite leader did not need to bring any tools to the meeting point in the Quarry Bank Mill car park!

Most of us spent the day splitting logs from trees felled on the estate into log burner-size logs and adding them to the huge pile of split logs stored around the perimeter of the yard.  The Trust plans to sell the logs to local residents.  We split the logs using either a hydraulic log splitter (a fantastic labour saving device!) or using axes and chopping blocks.  Separately, four or five of us worked in the copse behind the toolstore and at the back of Styal Primary School cutting out dead holly trees, sycamores and general brash.

Daniel and Neil operating the log splitter

Continuation of the pond clearance at Dunham Massey on 27th July 2014

Ten MNTVers turned up today to continue the work that our Group and the Merseyside NT volunteers had been involved in a fortnight ago.

Today we were with Wendy, an intern Ranger at Dunham, and Steve who is a long-term volunteer there.

We split ourselves so we were working in 2 ponds: Island Pond with Steve to clear the Iris and any Lillies that got in the way! and in Old Mans Pond with Wendy trying to pull out some of the Crassula and put it on black liner on the bank.

To avoid cross-contamination of any pond weed as there are different types in the 2 ponds, once we were in our groups and working in a particular pond, we couldn't then work in the other pond wearing the same waders.

The wader wearers!

The weather turned out to be glorious, although it tried to lightly rain on us when we first arrived, so at break and lunchtimes we re-grouped and shared cake and chat on the grassy bank by Old Mans Pond.

Working in Old Mans Pond

Wendy and Steve were really pleased with the amount of Iris and Crassula that were removed from the ponds, but there's still plenty more to go at!!!

Island Pond showing the clump of Iris we were removing

Another, more distant view, of Island Pond         

MNTV social: cycle ride with SCCC Wednesday 23rd July 2014

It was a beautiful sunny evening, ideal weather for cycling in the countryside:-) The plan was for us to once again join Stockport Community Cycling Club (SCCC) on one of their regular Wednesday evening summer cycle rides. We had successfully done this for the 2 years previously, exploring Gatley & Cheadle in 2012 and the Heatons in 2013.

This time we were meeting at the Lapwing Centre in Brinnington and from there cycling on the pedestrian bridge over the M60 and almost instantly being in beautiful countryside for the next 10miles, exploring the old railway line at Godley near Hyde alongside canals and rivers mainly using disused railway lines and tracks, barely using public roads at all.

It was a lovely ride, although most of it was on the flat, there were a few challenging hills and we even had to dismount and carry our bikes over a narrow foot bridge at one point. Nonetheless, a lovely evening to be out and about.

But where were the MNTVers?.......the fearless, energetic members of our Group?
They were no-where to be seen! I tried, I looked right and I looked left, but none were there!! Fortunately I wasn't alone as about 30 from the SCCC group were there, most doing the 10 mile ride, while a few 'newbies' tried a shorter 6 mile route with a couple of the more experienced cyclists.

What can I say? you missed a treat. Maybe you'll be tempted to join us if we do another cycle ride next summer?

I looked right.......

....I looked left, but where were MNTVers?!