29th AGM on Monday 27th April 2015

We held our AGM last night in the meeting room at Norcliffe Chapel, Styal.  13 members attended plus Styal ranger Simon Hiley.

The formal business was completed in an hour:

Approval of the minutes of the 2014 AGM
Chairman’s Report for 2014/15
Treasurer’s Report for 2014/15
Election of committee for 2015/16 (Adrian, Ally, Daniel, Denise, Matt, Sue, Tim)
AOB

Denise Clark, Kate Bass and Sarah Bujac received their 5-year badges from Simon (long overdue - they have each done 7 or 8 years!)

After refreshments of tea/coffee and homebaked chocolate cake and banana & choc chip muffins we had an excellent and fascinating talk by Alex Dawson (a founding father) about MNTV's foundation and early years.

Alex had travelled all the way from Kirkby Lonsdale in the Lake District to be with us.  He told us the group had its inaugural meeting on 21 April 1986 in Altrincham library.  35 people joined that night! (and we have 35 members now!)  There are many similarities between the group’s activities then and now, notably the worktasks, some worksites, the enjoyment we get from our work and of course all the fun!  Workdays then (9am to 4pm) were a little longer than today, there were fewer of them (two every three weeks) but to a lot more worksites (including ones we don't visit today like Erddig and the Long Mynd), there were more weekends away (six a year) and MNTV organised an annual multi-group Megabash (with on one occasion 500-600 volunteers!!)  In the early years the newsletters were written on a typewriter.  Alex brought along copies of issues 1-18 for the group to keep.  Daniel will digitise some and email them to members.  At the end of the evening Alex took home an MNTV mug as a memento of his visit!

Rhody bash with fire at Lyme on Sunday 26th April 2015

What unexpectedly fabulous weather:-)
After checking the forecast in the few days before, rain had been predicted, but on the day we had sunshine with a bit of a breeze - it was absolutely great.

The worksite was a bit of a challenge though. We were cutting back rhody at the side of the drive between Knott car park and the back entrance to Lyme. Part of the site was flat but then rose steeply towards the ridge so we cut some of the higher rhody back first and dragged it down the slope to the flatter area. We got a fire going but again, with it being a narrow site, we had to ensure that we could safely get past the fire particularly as it got bigger and hotter during the day.

Gary, one of the Lyme Rangers, worked with us as did 2 of the Lyme youth volunteers for the morning.

There were 11 of us from MNTV, including 2 newbies, so we managed to get quite a bit done. Mid-morning break and lunchtime were spent chatting and swapping stories in the sun. It was a great day and we remembered to get a group shot at the end:-)

Spring in Snowdonia - 18/19 April 2015

To mark the start of spring we spent the weekend in Snowdonia, our first visit since the marathon in October 2013.  It was great to be back after 18 months.  Four from the Merseyside group joined 12 of us for the weekend and we stayed at the Hendre Isaf basecamp outside Betws-y-coed.

We gathered on Friday evening have mostly car shared on our way there.  Two spent Friday climbing Snowdon, two others climbed a mountain in the Carneddau, three did a quick tour of Bodnant Gardens and the rest travelled over from Manchester after work.  There was cake coming from all over the place whether homemade or bought.  Ally didn't think she'd ever seen that much cake at a MNTV weekend before!

On Saturday we again car shared and met ranger Simon Rogers at Craflywn Hall from where we travelled to the worksite.  Our task was rhodybashing!  The worksite was one of the most scenic any of us had worked at with Moel Hebog and Yr Aran rising above us and a deep blue Llyn Dinas beyond.  The sun shone down from a cloudless sky and it was indescribably beautiful.  Much cake was eaten on our mid-morning break.

Cut down rhody and Llyn Dinas (A Hardy)

After lunch and more cake Simon told us the legend of the red Welsh dragon and its victorious battle against the white Saxon dragon after they were released from a pit below the hill fort on Dinas Emrys (above Craflwyn Hall).  He enthralled us for ten minutes.  It sounded like a Norse saga and would have sounded magnificent in Welsh.  We were then back at work doing what we do best - bashing away!  After we'd finished and tidied up the worksite we all headed to Beddgelert for an ice cream from the award winning ice cream shop.  There were such flavours as Pistachio, Cheese Cake, Mint Choc Chip, Coconut & Chocolate and Wild Cherry.

Llyn Dinas - yes, there really were no clouds! (D Black)

In the evening we dined on Spiced lentil and tomato moussaka and Apple crumble and custard.  We had the same meal last time so perhaps it’ll become part of the Snowdonia tradition.  Thank you to Hazel and Sam for cooking.  For supper later on there was of course cake!

On Sunday we worked with ranger Rhydian in woods near the basecamp.  Most of us travelled there in the basecamp’s minibus, known by its occupants for the day as the Funbus, driven by Neil.  Our task for the morning was to clear some felled and sawed up trees and tidy up the surrounding areas. We arranged ourselves into a fireman’s chain to move logs from out of the wood and stacked them on the roadside for removal.  Although it was a slow process, after finishing the task we realised we had actually done quite a lot (we estimated we shifted two tonnes of wood!)  There is still more to do. More cake was eaten.  The bird of the weekend - spotted this morning - was a Red Kite!

It was a terrific weekend - good company, beautiful weather and stunning scenery - and all of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  We will be returning for Spring in Snowdonia in 2016.

Ally & Daniel

Hayfield - 12 April 2015

Five volunteers rolled up in the Sett Valley Trail car park this Sunday to meet the rangers and drive up into the hills to South Head Farm.  It was just a short walk across the fields to the site of the first task - a pond in a tree plantation.  The task was the replacement of 25 feet of collapsing concrete drain pipe with a brand new plastic pipe.  The culvert formed the outflow from the pond and after a muddy hour the water was gurgling happily through the new bright blue pipe.  We then proceeded to clear and enlarge the stream bed to prevent future flooding and reinstated some stepping stones that provided a crossing for a footpath.

Lunch was spent at South Head Farm which had recently been rented out to a German film company who filmed a murder mystery there.  The rangers showed use round the property, pointing out the changes the film company had made to create an eerie atmosphere.

After lunch we walked to a site near a stream adjacent to the drive to the farm and on a pleasant bend near the happily bubbling brook planted three oak trees in remembrance of Marita Johansson, a friend and member of the group who unfortunately died last year.  The site brought back some happy memories for me because on one hot day after doing some dry stone walling, myself, Marita and the rest of the gang took time out to cool our feet in the stream at the same spot.  Thanks go to Shane and the other rangers for providing the trees and a great place to plant them.

Tim O'Donnell