Pateley Bridge Telegraph - Special Edition
The clash of the fire lighting Titans
Eye witness account from roving reporter Ros E.
In spite of the met office warning of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Barney 17 brave Nidderdale AONB NCVs met with 5 other stalwarts from the Heritage Skills team to help their leader in the seemingly never ending task of de-rhododendronizing Fishpond Wood.
"Listen up you lot - today is not for the faint hearted.
Anyone not wanting to brave the storm can stay here and sharpen tools."
Getting rid of the existing brash was the main feature of the day along with some further cutting to reveal the beautiful trees beneath this pernicious invader. The NCVs quickly saw that the only way to get rid of the enormous amounts of brash was to burn it - and one fire was simply not sufficient. Hence began a competition between two teams to see which could build the biggest fire and burn the largest amount of foliage.
Team 'Towering Inferno' got busy first and student Josh took on the responsibility of starting their fire once Osian failed.
"Here - let me take this over."
"There - that's more like it!"
Impressive to say the least!!
Team 'Flames R Us' then started their bonfire at the other end of the hillside. James headed up this one.
James got busy with a single match and one dry twig.
Then super hero, Alistair, used his special fire
lighting eyes and willed it into action.
Not bad!
There really was no clear winner in this race for fire supremacy.
Meanwhile - some NCVs cut rhodies....
...both large...
..and small.
Others dragged brash...
...with one hand..
...or two.
Laura tunnelled into a particularly large rhodie
and emerged, smiling, with great chunks of it.
The brash was passed down the hillside.....
....to those below...
....who fed it onto the conflagrations.
Some pieces were too long or heavy for just one person to lift.
Student Hannah remained wet, muddy and happy throughout.
Lunch had to be taken in shifts to ensure the fires kept burning. Then the rain really set in. It poured. Heavily. But even that didn't stop the NCVs.
Smoke and rain made visibility bad.
Eyes streaming, hair singed, the NCVs battled on.
This high quality photo is to be entered for the Telegraph's up-coming 'Photograph of the year' award (Environmental improvement category)
By two o'clock everyone was very wet (unless they were standing next to a fire) and smelled strongly of smoke. James decided that enough was enough and the fires were left to burn away.
The area is looking much clearer now.
Back at the barn Phil and Jan remained nice and dry having wimped out of the rhodie task in favour of tool sharpening. I suppose somebody has to do it!
Phil put on his hat as the NCVs arrived back at the barn
to make it look as if he had suffered cold working conditions.
(The NCVs were not fooled)
Jan quickly rolled up the extension lead they had been using
to power up the blow heater, TV and toaster.
"I needed it to plug in the lathe. We've sharpened every tool in the barn - it's been really hard work" he claimed.
(Again - the NCVs were not fooled.)
Footnote:
The newly dredged lake is now up to full
capacity and looking good!
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