This week it was touch and go if any of the NCVs would turn up for work. With a national petrol crisis in full play, would they have sufficient fuel in their tanks to travel to the venue? Would they have to save it for more pressing needs?
As it happened there was no need to worry. Ten NCVs had both time and petrol to spare and travelled to Hackfall Woods for a day of work. The last time the NCVs were working at Hackfall was a long seven weeks ago - back in the halcyon days of summer, balsam pulling and bracken bashing at the far flung corner of the Dropping Well.
No need for anyone to walk quite that far to their tasks today. They were back on the normal round of general woodland maintenance tasks, working in two groups throughout the area. Without any further ado let's see exactly what they go up to....
Team 1 (Lime House Hill to the Sandbeds):
A trio of holly trimmers.
Sometimes the holly was right in the centre of
the path and needed completely taking out.
Then the trio had a little more to deal with than the odd bit of veg.
Soloist Ros K. got to work removing nipping
off the bramble trip hazards.
Now and again a piece of balsam had to be carefully dispatched.
A quick coffee break allowed the team to recharge their batteries....
...then it was onwards and downwards to the river,
dealing with issues at head height like this along the way.
It's ok Tony - the holly has now gone. You can stand upright.
Uh oh. Now that is a big issue!
Where have the Sandbeds gone?
Where's Liz with the chainsaw when you need her?
The team did what they could with loppers and bow saws.
At least now anyone who isn't too tall can
duck under to reach the beach.
And anyone with very long legs (or with an Olympic
medal for the high jump) can get over the base of the tree
which is also now nice and clear of branches.
Team 2 (Alum Springs to Mowbray Castle)
Osian and his gang threw themselves into
bashing back brambles with great gusto.
The activity left them completely exhausted by coffee time.
David appeared to take to the bottle.
Alistair looked on in envy wishing that he,
too, had thought to bring something a little stronger to imbibe.
If anyone needs a home help this team can offer
competitive rates for top quality sweeping.
It was going to take more than a bit of
sweeping to get rid of this obstruction.
Alistair waved his magic wand and....
...Hey Presto! There it was gone!
As everyone arrived back at the carpark so an
ominous bank of cloud came towards them. Although there
is still some clearing to do it can wait until next time.
No point in getting wet now is there?
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