A photographic diary of our volunteering activities
(Andy T. writes:) This task involved helping out at the 1940s “Their Finest Hour” weekend. It was one of those tasks that involved helping out with the running of the event, rather than getting our hands dirty. We were told that we could turn up in 1940s gear for this task.
I spent most of my time helping out at the Paper Aeroplane gazebo. It was a competition to see who could build and throw a paper aeroplane the furthest. Other people helped out at the memorabilia stall, looking after the refreshments and the aeroplane identification quiz. Because it was quite a slow day, there was plenty of time to look at the vintage cars, Churchill’s appearance, the Home Guard displays and take part in the 1940s Lindy Hop Dancing.
At 16:00 we went for tea and cake. Afterwards we helped take down one of the gazebos and then headed for home. (Andy wrote a little more on his Flickr page, on which he has many more photos.)
Left to right (all pictures by Andy T.): Churchill entering the proceedings; three other people from the 1940s: Matt, Ruth and Laura; the paper aeroplane competition
Left to right: Helping at the plane-spotter's quiz; Ruth and Kyle joining in the Lindy Hopping; Taking down the gazebo
We helped with a scything weekend event over two days. Tasks included manning a beer tent, helping with drying out the scythed grass to make hay and making a rope from the grass for a “tug of war”. Andy T. has written about it and has more pictures.
Left to right (all pictures by Andy T.): Before the scything competitors started; After they finished; Jo manning the beer tent
Left to right: The hay drying rack; Making rope; Simon (NT employee) shearing a sheep
Both pictures above were kindly taken by Margaret G., and the day out was organised by Kyle V. Many thanks are due to them both. We have more pictures on our Flickr site - why not have a look?
(Alison writes:) There were 16 volunteers and we split into two groups. One group continued work on the Path Hunter path and spread another layer of woodchips onto the path thus making it nice and deep, but firm, to walk on. Also wooden edging had been put in, and the areas behind the wood were back filled with soil to make it level.
The other taskers went to a site where a large yew tree had been felled. They spent the day cutting up the fallen branches into smaller sections and we created a huge pile of brash which the warden took away ready to go into the shredder to make more woodchips!
Left to right (all pictures by Paul H.): The finished path; Getting the woodchips
This was a messy and wet task, but the warm and sunny weather – not to mention the delicious cakes we were kindly given at the end – more than made up for that.
Left to right (all pictures by Paul H.): The moat prior to clearing; Clearing the moat (1, 2)
Left to right: After the moat was cleared; The fruits of our labour: piles of extracted reeds; Cake!
Catching up on details of a task from last year… Here’s an example of an effort to build tree guards, a task we’ve undertaken on other occasions (1, 2, 3, 4), though sometimes using different techniques.
Left to right (all pictures by Joanna-Marie H.): Knocking in posts; Building the guards
Left to right: Heave!; All finished
To celebrate 30 years of CNTV, eleven of us went on a weekend away to Sheen in the Peak District.
Andy writes: “We were impressed with how nice the Youth Hostel that we had hired was…On the Saturday, we had a fry up and then went for a walk. We started at Sheen and walked down to Townend, Lowend, through Cowlow, through Ecton, across Ecton Hill past Manor Ho(use). Some of us climbed Wetton Hill next, whilst the others carried on and met us near behind a wall where we had some lunch.
Left to right (all pictures by Andy T.): Ecton Village Road; Elevenses on Saturday; Ecton Copper Mine; Wetton Hills
Left to right: Walking towards Wetton; The "Devonshire Arms" at Hartington; Pete waiving from a rock at Pilsbury Castle; At the hostel
“The weather had been miserable when we started – grey and spitting rain, but by lunchtime I had to put my sun hat on and it was really pleasant. Next we walked across the fields to Alstonefield. Then (after a slight detour), we headed along Wolfscote Dale. It was very pleasant in this valley, with great big cliffs that would be awesome for abseiling, and also two caves. I explored one of them. It looked quite small, but it had a high ceiling that I couldn’t see the top of, and a narrow passage way, that I squeezed down and could see opening up, but it started to get dark so I stopped. Then we headed up to Hartington. We stopped at the pub there and went to the village shop. Then we walked up the hill to Sheen.”
Andy has written more about the weekend on his Flickr page. Thanks to Lop for organising it.
There were various tasks: clearing out a garage and putting logs in it, fixing the potholes in the car park, building a bonfire, dragging bits of wood to the bonfire, and cutting down dead elms. You can read more about this in Andy’s album, where he discusses his work on elms.
Left: Removing unwanted foliage; Right: Lorraine taking the cuttings away
Left: Disposing of the evidence; Right: Filling holes in the car park
We planted the orchard and worked upon protecting it. Paul has more in his album.
Left: Getting ready to start; Right: The arrival of motorised assistance
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