Nidderdale Conservation Volunteers' Blog: Glasshouses verge and the NCV barn: 20-08-2019

Although volunteer co-ordinator Liz was unable to be on duty this week the NCVs were left in no uncertain terms about what had to be done. A list of no fewer than 7 jobs had been sent out for tasks to be done, both at the barn and along at the verge near Glasshouses. Whether they could all be achieved in one day was very much a moot point, but the NCVs are never ones to shirk a hard day's work so jobs were shared out and everyone got busy.

Liz - here is a summary of how we got on.....

JOB 1 - Clear away the heaps of cut grass on the verge and add them to the new compost heap behind the barn.

Luckily Andy brought his car with a tow ball so could spend the day being 'Trailer Man'.

Just how many men does it take to join one trailer and one car together?

Once the trailer was joined up the job could begin.

The week old piles of grass gradually got shifted to their final resting place.

There were occasions when those below the wall felt overwhelmed.

By the end of the afternoon the compost heap had reached
proportions that were visible from outer space...

...and grass shifting NCVs were keeling over with exhaustion.

Overall Result - Some piles of old grass were still on the verge by home-time so:

JOB NOT COMPLETED. X

JOB 2 - Complete scything the first half of the verge.

The scything team quickly got onto this.
All except for Alistair who spent the first half of the morning
contemplating the nature of life.
(He claims this caption should read:
'Alistair took a short, well earned rest after working very hard'.)

By coffee time the scything of the first half of the verge
was complete and ready for raking.

Overall Result: Job done. a

JOB 3. Make a start scything the second half of the verge.

This job got started after lunch when the raking was complete.

Overall Result: Job done (well started anyway). a

Talking of lunchtime - guess who aired their socks?

There was a very amusing lunch time discussion which was toilet focused. This resulted from the NCVs discussing the pros and cons of losing their Portaloo by the barn. As a result of this one NCV has sent this link that you may find helpful in the future:

Five leaves you can use at a pinch.

Phil issued a special warning based on experience - ON NO ACCOUNT USE A FIG LEAF. The resulting discomfort makes you wonder what on earth Adam and Eve were thinking.

JOB 4. Store the wood and drainage pipes around the back of the barn.

OK - that should be a straightforward job.

Ah - perhaps not so easy - this lot needed sorting out first.
Will decided that this was NOT a one man job!

Eventually the back of the barn got tidied by Will and Stan...

...and the wood and pipes were able to be shifted to their new home
- leaving the way clear for job 5.

Overall Result: Job done. a

JOB 5. Spread the bag of sand near the barn to make a path round to the back.

Before the job could be started the water bowser needed shifting.

To make this possible it first had to have some water emptied out.

(When Ros E. attempted to fill two water bottles from this bowser the whole tap unit came off in her hand and yet more water issued forth all over her feet. Luckily Trailer Man leapt to her aid before she was washed out to sea.)

Now that's out of the way - here's the sand...

...and here's a man with a wheelbarrow.

Fling it around over there....

...and the job's a good un.

Overall Result: Job done. a

JOB 6. Sand down the barn's external paintwork ready for painting.

Yes - we can see why that job was added to the list.

Overall Result: JOB NOT EVEN STARTED - NO TIME. X

JOB 7. Sweep up leaves at the front of the barn and clear moss out of the grids.

Yes - brushing up needed but Will reported that the grids were OK.

Will is a very good brusher upper.

Overall Result: Job done.a

So Liz - not all the jobs got finished but it was not a bad effort. We now know what we'll need to be doing next week!!

One extra job had, unfortunately, to be done. Thanks to some mindless vandals some of the signs in Old Spring Wood have been damaged....