St. Saviour's Churchyard: 09-09-2025

 

Time to tidy up!

With scythes at the ready, and some loppers and slashers to hand, the NCVs paid a visit to St. Saviour's  church yard, Padside, in order to scythe the wild flower section and generally tidy up the rest of the graveyard. Liz was doing her chain saw refresher course so we had scything champ Joe to help us get the job done.

So - let's have a look at what needed tidying and check to see if the NCVs earned their 'Tidy Up' badge.

Well the wild flower section definitely 

needed a good hair cut.

It was two years since our last visit.

Probably something to do with the

 grounds man obeying  this sign.

Half the team got busy scything and raking....

...and carrying...

...one way or another.

The grass was heaped on the

so called 'sacrificial pile'.

The other half of the gang picked up

 the loppers and started removing

 elder and other plants growing 

under the yew trees.

This often gave a better view

 of the gravestones nearby,

This area required the application of a slasher.

Now that IS a lot tidier!

And these branches needed nipping off 

and adding to  an old habitat pile.

Expert scyther, Joe, kept an eye

on everyone's technique, giving useful 

advice where it was needed.

The most important advice? 

Imagine you are putting your left elbow

into your back pocket and

keep honing your blade.

Coffee time in the sunshine 

was very pleasant indeed...

...made all the more so by Friedy's 

superb chocolate birthday brownies.

Thanks and Happy Birthday Friedy!

As the scythers moved down the edge of 

the field, Anita's attention was distracted.

Now - what's going on over there?

Joe had started tidying around

 the front and back of the sacrificial pile.

A couple of others joined in,

with slashers, at the church end.

This led to a discovery which 

generated a lot of interest.

Now - what can it be?

Ahhh. The presence of a 

long forgotten gravestone.

With the application of some 

water from the rain barrel...

...and a bit of a scrub with Anita's

boot brush, the inscription 

was revealed. It dated back to 1739!

By lunchtime the job was finished.

The churchyard was looking very tidy indeed.

Well done team - you have definitely 

earned your 'Tidy up' badge!

Glasshouses verge: 02-09-2025

 

A momentous day

This week's task fell on the 2nd September, which is a special day for a number of reasons.

First up - it was the first task to be carried out on the first Tuesday of autumn. The heady days of summer are over, and so too is the pulling up of balsam. Hurray!

Secondly - in case you didn't already know - the 2nd of September is Calendar Adjustment Day - the day which marks Britain's shift in 1751 to the use of the Gregorian calendar to bring them in line with the rest of Europe. Very confusing for everyone at the time!!!! 

Thirdly - again for the international day ignoramuses - the 2nd September is World Coconut Day - a time to dwell on the versatility and benefits of coconuts. (Far too many to list here....)

More importantly 2nd September 2025 marked the start of the annual Glasshouses Verge Scything Event. Two task days had been allocated to this job, but would they both be needed? A contractor was going to cut all the flat bits and the NCVs just had to do the rest and rake up the aftermath. 

Let's take a look and see if a second visit will be needed....

Job number one:

Assemble your scythe.

Only then can you start to swing it 

to good effect.

Phil swung like a pro - then 

announced it was his swan song.

Phil - we shall miss you.

Please come and join us from time 

to time if you can.

Those who were not scything 

got busy with their rakes.

Luckily the contractors had turned up...

...and had already started doing

 a grand job on the flat sections.

The NCVs too, were doing an 

excellent job on the roadside bank.

At coffee time Julia came around 

with a box of ...

...what she called her

'Past their best banana cake'.

The bananas may well have been past 

their best, but the cake was excellent!

The contractor's grass cutting machine 

kept losing its front wheel, so had to

be taken off to be welded.

Whilst he was waiting, his assistant

started collecting up the grass piles.

Liz had also brought 2 new toys

to try out. An electric strimmer

and an electric high level

hedge trimmer.

These came in handy throughout the day.

The ensuing brash got taken off

by Anita and Brenda...

...and was used to bolster

up the dead hedge.

Another non-scything job involved

this poor self-seeded  cherry tree

which was growing around the fence.

Paul and Dave got to work on removing the 

offending bits of fence bars.

Osian, too, did a bit of sawing....

...and soon freed the tree trunk

and made the fence ends secure.

They could hear the tree breathing 

a sigh of relief!

Despite the contractor's cutting machine 

breakdown losing him nearly two hours,

the job was pretty well completed 

by close of play. Just some piles of grass 

along the edge to be collected.

No need to return next week!

Stop Press:

Honorary NCV Harry has finally left primary school and has just had his first day at Upper Nidderdale High School.

Congratulations Harry!

My - how grown up and

 smart you look!!

Limley Farm: 19-08-2025

Yet more HBP!!

Yes. That's right. More balsam eradication was on the cards this week - way updale at Limley Farm.

I know, I know. You are right - we were only up there two weeks ago and last week I said that the scything season had started. Well with there only being a small team available last time, and with the balsam getting to the point where it would be seeding all over the place, a second visit to finish the job was vital. The scything would have to wait.

Shall we check to see if the job got done?

The 8 strong team slowly worked 

their way up the dry river bed.

The plants were well rooted between

the stones and often hard to pull up.

Oh Heck!!

NOT a sight for sore eyes!!

That's better.

A heap of defeated balsam.

Helena was proud of her 

balsam collection.

Ruth felt overwhelmed.

Where to start?

These two started up here.

This NCV started down here.

And these two just sat around

 all day doing nothing...

...having roped in a couple of

 cows to do their share of the work.

A more welcome and interesting

sight to see than balsam.

By the time the team arrived at this 

patch of merrily seeding balsam 

they decided it was time to give

 up and go home!