Holy Trinity Churchyard: 04-08-2026

Twelve NCVs went to

 mow a meadow. 

If it's one thing the NCVs are particularly good at it is making a churchyard look tidy - a job that they are asked to do from time to time. This week they were working in Holy Trinity churchyard in Dacre Banks, somewhere they have swung their scythes, grass slashers and strimmers on a number of occasions. This week they had National Scything Champion 2025 Joe Haywood overseeing the task - an excellent addition to the team.

The pictures below show the progress that was made in the mowing of this churchyard....

So - this is a before pic.

The grass wasn't quite as 

thick as last year but very long.

Any NCVs who were new to

scything had a master class 

from Joe...

...before joining the rest 

of the gang who were already 

hard at work.

Ros raked...

and Tom carried the cut

grass off.

It was dumped onto a tarp

and dragged off to the corner

of the churchyard....

...where it became a trampoline 

for NCVs to play on.

Energy levels were boosted 

by Ros's ginger themed 

birthday biscuits.

Joe stopped to peen 

his blade (as you do)....

...whilst everyone else continued

swishing and raking.

On three occasions the local 

wildlife stopped play.

Here a hedgehog was spotted

sheltering at the base of a gravestone.

A bees' nest and a grass snake were

also disturbed. Sorry fellas!!

By 1:30 the churchyard

was finished and looking

very well coiffed.

All that remained was to 

spread some hay meadow seed....

...and take a final pic to

show the amount of grass cut!

Additionally, a small group of NCVs who double up as Rights of Way improvers went out last Thursday in order to clear Watson's Lane near Norwood.. As you can see they had quite a job to do to unblock the track!

Before. Gulp!

During.

After.

They also had enough energy 

to make a start clearing 

this set of steps!

Wallers' update

 

WALLERS' NEWS

The Nidderdale wallers have been busy at Breaksfold Farm over the last two Wednesdays. They are going to have their very own blog entry this weekend to make sure that you are all kept up to date, so read on to see their progress.....

22nd July 2026 by Barry:

Benign conditions greeted six of us as we arrived early on North Moor Road, cloudy but warm with barely any wind. The Knabs Ridge turbines remained motionless all day. Everyone took up preferred positions along the working stints. Rod & Simon added five courses and topped out the first five metres, then assisted Dave & Andy on the next, while Barry & Wayne brought the end section up to meet it. Much hammer work was again needed to fashion level courses out of unpromising material, but steady progress was made with the prospect of completing this section next time. Curlews and Oyster catchers alerted us to several fly-overs by red kites, else all was calm. Very warm work when the sun did break through on occasions, so a 2.30 finish was agreed.

Fine tuning at the end of the day

Lots of small stones, not the easiest to work with

Looks pretty neat and tidy

To level up and top out next week

29 July 2026 by Graham:

It was a warm and often cloudy day for walling, excellent for the six of us continuing with the task at Breaksfold - fortunately nowhere near as oppressive as some previous weeks. This being Wayne's third week of walling, he first spent a morning with Graham, learning how to dismantle the next four yards of wall, whilst the rest of the group finished what was left over from last week. 

By lunchtime their eight yard section had been brought up to height and topped out, whilst  Wayne and Graham had done the reverse and  taken down their section to soil level.  In the afternoon, Wayne moved on to another new task, namely that of laying foundations of the dismantled section.  Graham and Rob dismantled another four yards of wall whilst  Andy and Duncan moved mountains, tidying up all the loose stone from previous weeks' sessions; quite some task. Overall another productive week's walling and some excellent training for Wayne.

Wayne looks at the morning's work ahead of him

By lunchtime the wall has disappeared

Again by lunchtime, last week's wall had been completed

Rob looks at his afternoon's dismantling task

 Dave and Wayne completed the foundations

End of day and time to pack up

Yates House, Braithewaite: 28-0702926

 

The window is opening soon

As July came to an end this week the NCVs were preparing for the next window of tree tube recycling. It made a welcome relief from balsam pulling and was a job that they were well used to, having carried out this task earlier in spring on a number of occasions.

Yates House was a new venue - always interesting to see - and the job mainly involved the removal of hedging spirals rather than many of the usual tubes. 

Ok - the scene is set - let's look at this week's pictures to see how well they got on....

This was the first hedge

encountered. 300m of spirals

to be removed.

Below it was the plantation.

Here the majority of trees

were still too small for tube

removal. Only the 

dead trees were detubed.

Everyone needed to get down 

on their kneelers to work the hedge.

Before...

...and after.

Often the tubes ended up like this.

Not good!

Others behaved themselves

and lay quietly awaiting collection.

Paul and Will were collecting

the discarded spirals and canes.

Occasionally there was

a surprise to be found.

Here was a new species of hawthorn.

Crataegus twirlywhirlycus.

And the odd petrified frog.

Crisp anyone?

Now and again we came 

across tree cages. Osian

made short work of these.

Oh heck - these three trees

don't look in peak condition!

By coffeetime the first 

hedge was done...

...and everyone was delighted

by the array of cakes that were

 supplied by landowners Sue and Andy.

Thanks both - MUCH appreciated.

A small team was then left 

to deal with any tube removal

in the plantation whilst the

rest marched up the hill

with the the Grand Ol' 

Duke of York.

Here they started wok 

on the 100m of more 

restricted hedge.

It was at this point that Will

was given the bad news that

this little chap had got into 

his rucksack and eaten his 

lunchtime pork pie. 

Oh deary me. Naughty boy!!!!

Slowly but surely the

spirals succumbed...

...to allow the gang to once more

get behind the Grand Ol' Duke 

as he led them down again.

The bags of collected material

were loaded into Liz's trailer...

...and then everyone went and 

had lunch in a beautiful garden.

What's not to like about volunteering?!

And some other walling news that we have been waiting for the go-ahead from Menwith Hill to publish from 3rd June....

Wallers' update

by Graham

Following on from three weeks ago, when the wallers prepared the Menwith Hill wall for this year's Earth Day rebuild on the 3rd June. The group welcomed five volunteers from the base in the morning and another seven in the afternoon to have a go at walling.  As in previous years, the volunteers were an enthusiastic bunch who picked up the basics very quickly and produced a very respectable bit of walling . 

Overall we worked in five groups over 25 yards or so of wall,   topping off 5 yards and adding several courses beyond.  This was despite some heavy rain at times, although never  persistent enough to curtail the event. The hosts had kindly laid on pizzas for lunch, which was very much welcomed together with a visit and personal thankyou from the RAF Cdr,  a personal note of thanks from the Base Director and an inscribed celebratory walling hammer which has now been incorporated into the wall  (see photo).  Our thanks to all the team at Menwith Hill for their hospitality and for another successful walling day.