Hayfield 24 Oct 2010

11 Volunteers turned out and spent the day Rhodi bashing at Park moor near Hayfield.

There was a heavy frost which made the footing a little awkward, so we restricted out efforts to the top of the slope, but with the numbers present including the national trust staff who looked after tjhe first, we made a dent in the alien weed.

Alderley Edge 17 Oct 2010

Eight volunteers turned out to Alderley edge and spent the day removing trees stumps, with hand winches. Although the edge is known for its woodlands, for much of its history it has been open heath land. As the heathland is the rarer more important habitat there is an ongoing project to thin some of the woodland around small patches of remaining heath, to allow more light down to ground level and increase the space for heathland species. The stumps are removed and burnt as heathland soil has a low nutrient content, and it they were allowed to rot the nutrients would enter the soil - altering the balance of species.

The day started cold but with bright sunshine and still air we soon warmed up - especially near the fire!

Victoria Baths 10 Oct 2010

When it came to setting up this autumn's program we were unable to make arrangements for this session.

As our program planner is also a volunteer at Victoria Baths - we decided to fill the gap with a session there (and sneak a peak at progress).

Our planned task was to clean the gallery around the gala pool (Gents first class), as some dirt/debris had been left behind by recent work on its ceiling / roof, but is was a glorious day so most of use spent the day marking out bays in the car park. One volunteer took on the unenviable task of pressure washing the gents first class gents - that hasn't been in official use for many years. We are told this is the first step to resurrecting them as usable facilities as part of future plans.

Wilmslow Pie Night 6 October

There was a good turn out tonight for a pie supper. As usual, there were a range of delicious homemade pies on offer. I was suprised that the turkey and cranberry was most popular - are people becoming Christmassy already?! The portions were huge and came with plenty of chips and veg too. Everyone was extremely full by the end, but we still managed to keep talking! Much fun was had playing 20 questions to guess the occupation of some of the new faces.

Thurstaston 3rd Oct 2010

I've been on working holiday with the NT - so thanks to Daniel for the following text and photo.

Four of us travelled across to Thurstaston on the Wirral for a workday with ranger Phil and three Chester volunteers. It was pouring down when we arrived and had been all the way across on the M56/M53. Despite the rain we agreed that having travelled 50 miles to get there we should do some work and set about cutting down Scots pines in paddock 3. It was a surprise to hear from Phil that a local farmer grazes sheep and cattle in this enclosure, carpeted as it is in thick heather! It rained hard all morning and the only shelter we had was under a tree for coffee and gingerbread at 11.30. By lunchtime we were all beginning to dissolve and we said our goodbyes at 13.00. My workboots are still sodden three days later!