Rhodybashing at Hayfield on Sunday 25th November 2018

Laura and I met Sue Daber and Issy in the carpark at Hayfield.  We were then met by the two rangers who then escorted us to Park House estate from where we took all the tools up the hill to the work site.

The first job, which Issy and one of the rangers set about, was to winch out the tree branches that were hanging, whilst we went on to the site behind Park House to remove the rhododendrons.  Unfortunately the winch had broken the shear pin so after walking to see if the spraying of the rhodies at a previous site by contractors had been successful (mixed success), Issy joined us to destroy some more of the rhodies.

The weather was kind to us and we spent most of the day destroying rhodies.  We couldn't burn them as the rangers needed to sheet over the ground to stop the peat burning and they had not had time to set the burning area up, so we just piled the cuttings up for future volunteers.

By the end of the day we had reached a precipice above Park House which required ropes to cut down the rhododendrons above the house and we reached the area which we had cut down previously.  We then collected the tools and made our way down the hill to our cars and made our way home.

Neil

Fencing, planting and rebuilding at Quarry Bank on Sunday 18th November 2018

A big turnout for my return to leading after a very long time....  11 of us turned out on a chilly but beautiful autumnal day for a spot of cleft fencing around the village pond (finishing off a job previously started in October).  We were working with Ranger Vicky.  

We started by measuring out the section that needed to be finished... could we finish the fence without shortening the last piece... wait and see!

Meanwhile a small group of us made our way over to Norcliffe Chapel to plant bulbs...

Vicky had purchased a large quantity of bluebells, lesser celandine and wood anemone to plant at the side of the church in the shaded woody area where a septic tank is buried.

We planted 1000 bluebells in a swathe between these two trees.



Lesser celandine and wood anemone were planted in large clusters under trees and along the fence line.  

Hopefully in Spring there will be a gorgeous mix of blue, yellow and white flowers covering this previously bland area.

Time for tea, cakes courtesy of Denise's mum; a selection of brandy fruit cake, ginger cake and lemon drizzle loaf went down a treat.

After break the cleft fencing continued and the bulb planting had finished so a group of us headed over to the wood at the side of the chapel to spread wildflower seeds, meanwhile...

Tricky work getting the last section of fencing to fit!

 

Cleft fence completed (no need to shorten anything as we had it measured out perfectly) and looks stunning in the late afternoon sun!

Our last and final task of the day was building a new pathway support in the wood...

Not quite finished result as we ran out of time but looking pretty sturdy.

We all had a fabulous day, will you see Denise leading again anytime soon, watch this space!

Scrub clearing at Erddig on Sunday 11th November 2018

Today five of us (Andy & Christine, Daniel, Andy Screen and John Walsh) travelled to the Welsh border for our third workday of the year at Erddig, an NT house and estate near Wrexham.  We spent the day cutting down saplings and scrub from below a high voltage powerline on the edge of the property.  Andy lit a bonfire about 100 metres away in a clearing in the woods and we dragged the cuttings over to it.  James (Head Ranger) said it wasn’t safe to have a fire below the powerline because there was the possibility of electricity discharging to ground down the plume of smoke!

Before

After

Today was Remembrance Sunday and the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended World War One.  At 11 o'clock we observed two minutes’ silence to remember those who fell in WW1 and all wars.  Christine streamed the BBC’s coverage of the service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall as we stood around her flag in silent reflection.

Daniel

Fencing at Lyme on Sunday 4th November 2018

The annual rut at Lyme has just come to an end, and the deer in the park have moved up to the hill called The Knott to feed and rest. Not a good time to be taking down and repairing a big drystone wall that prevents the deer from entering a nearby wood.

Sadly MNTV weren’t working on the wall. Instead we were moving and re-erecting a temporary deer fence just behind the wall, to allow the walling contractors to begin work on the next section of the repair.

We had a team of nine, and split up so that some of us were detaching the fence from the existing posts, some were uprooting the posts from their current positions and others were knocking posts in further along the wall where the fence would be moved to.

The work of detaching the fence was reasonably straightforward while removing the posts took a bit of heave-ho. Knocking the posts into their new positions was more precarious. This involved standing on a raised step (on a 1:3 slope!) and using a post driver to knock the posts in. Some good teamwork and help from ranger Dan helped us to get the posts in on the steepest parts of the hill.

After morning break the now detached fence was ready to be reattached in its new position. It was a bit tricky to maintain tension along the whole fence while dealing with the changing steepness of the slope, but we managed to put up something that not only looks ok, but more importantly should stop any adventurous deer with thoughts of wandering.

The fence was attached just in time for lunch, and just in time to deter the first would-be invader, a stag with magnificent broad antlers (we must have done a good job as he turned back 100 yards away).

After lunch we cleared bracken from alongside the wall before an early 2pm finish. You can’t beat efficiency like that!

Pub quiz at The Hesketh on Monday 29th October 2018

Eight of us gathered tonight at The Hesketh in Cheadle Hulme for their weekly quiz.  It began at 8:45pm and we had an hour beforehand for dinner and to catch up.  Tim Leadbetter was with us (over for a few days from Dublin with today being a Bank Holiday in Eire) and so too was Phil Greaves.  The waiting staff were all dressed in Halloween costumes and the sight of so much fake blood didn't help our appetites!

The quiz followed the usual format of (Halloween) Faces, Dead or Alive, Catchprases… then three rounds of General Knowledge, Music and Wipeout.  We (The Volunteers) scored 93 points out of 110 and came fourth - a creditworthy effort but far behind the winning team who scored a sensational 102.5!

Thanks to Sue and Denise for organising the evening.

Hopefully we will see some of you at our next social on Thursday 6 December (Gaslight at MADS theatre in Macclesfield).

Daniel

The Volunteers

Rhody bash at Hayfield on Sunday 28th October 2018

It was a cold start to the day but 10 enthusiastic MNTVer's met Matt, Lead Ranger for the High Peak, in the Sett Valley trail car park, before moving on to Park Hall wood. We'd all remembered that the clock's had gone back so a great start that we all turned up on time:-)
We carried our bowsaws and loppers up the hill behind the hall to where the remaining rhody was waiting for us. We were working on a slope, which made the day challenging. After the risk assessment chat from Matt, but before we started work, Andy shared some homemade treacle toffee that Christine had made - it was delicious, and a great way to start the day.

The food continued when we stopped for morning break as both the Sue's had brought home-made cake to share - ginger cake and fruit loaf.
We cut back lot's of rhody, starting off in the same area but then splitting into two main groups, We were blessed with great views as we worked because of being so high up the hill and, for most of the day, the weather was dry, cold and crisp, with a bit of sunshine when we stopped for lunch.

Matt seemed pleased with our progress and was delighted with the amount of rhody that had been cleared by the time we finished. It'll be good to return there again to finish the job!

 Photos: Adrian

Fencing around the ponds at Styal on Sunday 21st October

This week the group were at Styal putting in new fencing around the ponds. We were split into two groups, one working in the car park with Craig and the other group making a start on the village pond with Alex.

Whilst the group in the car park were aiming to finish the last section of fencing for their pond, the group in the village were tasked with starting off a whole new fence.

Both groups had some difficulty digging into the ground due to the soil consistency, but everyone put a lot of effort in and by lunch time the fencing in the car park was almost finished.

It started raining at about 2pm (at least it waited for us to have lunch!) but the group carried on without a hitch.

By the end of the day we had finished the pond in the car park and 6 posts had been put in at the village pond car park.

There was a slight difference of opinion regarding the height of the posts but all in all I think the rangers were happy with our work.

It was a good day overall and it was nice to see the difference at the end of the day. Thanks to everyone who came along and thanks to Craig and Alex for helping us out all day.

Text from Hannah (worksite leader). Photo's from Jean, Karin and Adrian.