CALLING ALL NCVS!
Did you know that on March 10, 1876, the first ever telephone call was made by Alexander Graham Bell. So - if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have all those interesting cold calls interrupting us at teatime. Liz doesn't need to use the phone to contact her team each week. She uses the more up-to-date method of communication and emails us the task details. This week the details were exactly the same as last week's, as we were back at Trees Farm, Haverah Park, to plant the next installment of hedge trees. Only 1000 more to go - good job there were 21 people to plant them!!!.
Everyone took a deep breath in, girded their loins and set off to the work site.
There was quite a long way
to go to the reservoir - but then
there were quite a lot of trees
to fill in the space.
Osian started inserting
canes very methodically...
...keeping to the parameters
Liz had set using
the measuring stick.
Adrian, however, adopted a more
'Devil May Care' approach,
sticking them in wherever
there wasn't a rock.
And there were rocks aplenty.
Strangely no-one seemed to
want to plant in this area.
New NCV Nick, worked alongside Tom.
By coffeetime they had planted no
fewer than 80 trees between them!
This probably breaks the world
record for tree planting.
Nearby Ken eschewed the use of a lump
hammer and simply whacked in the
canes with a spade. The effort
needed made his hat move higher
and higher up his head until it
went into orbit around the Earth.
At coffeetime it became clear
just how big the group was.
At this point Amy handed out THE most
delicious birthday brownies to boost energy levels.
It was clear that Liz was feeling
faint and in desperate
need of one. Thanks Amy!
it was back to planting duty.
At lunchtime Emma cracked open a
container of home made ginger biscuits.
What's not to like?
Things then started hotting
up at the bottom of the hill
after lunch.
"Are we nearly there yet?"
"YES, YES, YES!!!!!!"
The top of the hill was done
(look at that nice straight line);
The bottom of the hill was done
(look at that sweeping curve
that follows the line of the ditch);
And even a short offshoot at right
angles to the main hedge was done.
Here's James, tapping in the
last cane.
Well done gang - no need for a third visit!
Liz not only supervised this mega tree planting effort this week - she also worked with a PhD student the day before in order to clear away the encroaching vegetation that was growing around the sand martin wall up at Gouthwaite Reservoir. This job needs doing every year in order to make sure predators cannot creep up on unsuspecting sand martins.
Look what a difference she made!!
Before - the top of the wall.
After the major hair cut.
And down below - all nice and clear now.
The student gets busy cleaning out the
holes for the returning martins to use.
Nothing like a bit of spring cleaning!
Wallers' World
by Graham.
There were lovely blue skies over Markenfield on 4th March for five of the walling team as they continued work on the Southern wall. Almost ideal conditions for walling, although it became somewhat chilly around lunchtime.
Graham, Dave and Duncan continued on the first stretch starting with some rebuilding.
At first there looked to be stone mayhem...
...which didn't look quite so bad from the other side.
They then decided to to dismantle back to the cheekend and re-insert a new one.
By lunchtime, the rest of the section was
taken down and a new cheekend inserted.
The new cheekend and foundations showed there was some good stone in the wall but accompanied by a lot of poor quality stuff.
Some big stones in the cheekend.
By the end of the day the eight yard
section was looking more like a wall again.
Further along the wall, Andy and Simons' five
yard section had gained nearly
three courses by coffee break.
This angle gives a better view .
of progress at the coffee break.
Three more courses
brought them to lunchtime....
...and by the close of play
they were near completion.
What a fantastic team of workers they are!
