“In which we abolish Bank Holidays in favour of Bank Workdays”
The last 12 months have passed by in a flash. Time here at SSNTV web-towers for a bit of trip down memory lane.
January
The group were up and running early in 2011 with our first workday outing to Dudmaston on January 2nd. We continued a project that was to run over a number of months, clearing rhododendron from the woodland. January also saw us starting work at a new site – Whitgreaves Wood near Moseley Old Hall. This woodland had recently been acquired by the National Trust and our first visit to site involved general tidying and removal of broken fencing, in preparation for further work later in the year.
We always enjoy a visit to Morville Hall and our first visit of the year took place at the end of the month. There is always a good turnout for our visits to Morville and there is never a shortage of work to be done….and never a shortage of delicious tea and cake at the end of the workday. Hedgelaying continued apace at the Attingham Estate – this January also saw visits to Shugborough Estate and Toothill Woods, so you can see that we really do get around to all corners of Shropshire and Staffordshire.
February
The group really had something to celebrate at Dudmaston on the first Sunday of the month. Group member John Wells reached his 3000th volunteer hour with the group. The day was spent planting 1000 trees, a fitting way to commemorate such a huge achievement. (Ed’s note – by the end of 2011, there were a number of other landmark achievements for our volunteers including Ron Murdoch reaching his 2500th hour and Matt Hinton passing the 1000 hour mark)
Our second outing of the month saw a hardy group of volunteers braving the miserable weather at Toothill Woods in north staffordshire, continuing work to remove rhododendron from the site.
Other workdays in February included another visit to Dudmaston, our first visit of the year to Wenlock Edge and another hedgelaying session at Attingham.
March
Walcot Woods, in South Shropshire, hosted our first working holiday of the year. Three days of fine weather allowed a great deal of progress to be made on the continued woodland management project at this site. Read all about the weekend here.
Not content with a full three days of work on the first weekend of the month, the following weekend found group members on their final hedgelaying trip of the season to Attingham on Saturday, followed by a workday at Wenlock Edge on Sunday and for those needing a little bit of extra work, there was gardening to be done with the volunteers at Moor Pool in Birmingham. Busy busy!
With spring just around the corner, a visit to the walled garden at Attingham was in order, helping National Trust staff to get the ground ready for planting. The final weekend in March continued the garden theme as we spent the day at Sunnycroft, helping wake the garden up following its winter sleep and some vigorous compost digging.
April
The first outing of the month was a social one. Dave Maeer organised a walk up Cadair Idris. He managed to ruin his reputation as this time there was good weather and the group didn’t get lost!
Carrying on from Sunnycroft, composting kept us busy in the walled garden at Attingham on the first Sunday in the month.
Six weeks after our last visit and spring had very much sprung at Walcot Woods. A carpet of wild flowers and a warm sunny day greeted us for a day in the woods.
Looking back, it seems that April was full of sunshine and our second visit of the year to Morville Hall was no exception.
Bank Holidays are usually when the group put down their tools for some rest and relaxation. Some of our crazy group members decided that the opportunity for some extra work was too good to miss, so the tools didn’t get their usual rest this year. The Easter Weekend was fine and sunny (Ed’s note – hard to remember as I sit here wearing three warm layers of clothes on Dec 30th) and those who needed to burn off the calories from eating too many Easter Eggs found themselves at Wenlock Edge for Easter Weekend#1. Not enough work on the one day? That’s ok, as there was more work at Dudmaston on Easter Monday at Dudmaston for Easter Weekend#2.
There was an extra bank holiday this year, courtesy of a certain Royal Wedding. No chance of getting a day off as the Bank Holiday Workdays continued with work at Wenlock Edge which included some sheep herding (!?).
May
What was the plan for May? Oh yes, I remember, don’t relax, get out there on May 1st and get some more work done. Might as well start the month off as we mean to go on…
May 1st was a bank holiday monday. Having re-written the rules concerning holidays (i.e. they are not for relaxing, they are for working hard and eating cake), there was a good turnout at Dudmaston, working alongside the pools, cutting and burning the odd rhododendron or two.
Continuing our plan for world domination, Saturday 7th May saw us extending our ‘Empire’ to Hereford for a workday at The Weir Garden. The sunny weather eluded us but a great day was had by all who attended and it was enjoyable working at a new site. The thought of a pint and some food at the local pub afterwards kept everyone working despite the weather.
Looking back, it seems that May was a particularly busy month. With all of those Bank Holidays Workdays, there were seven workdays during the month. Along with those already mentioned, there was a second trip to Whitgreaves wood (fencing repairs), scrub clearance at Sunnycroft and helping out at the Plant & Garden Fair at Attingham.
The Spring Bank *cough* Holiday Weekend allowed a double dose of rhododendron clearance at Dudmaston on the Saturday and Sunday. We were allowed (!) a day off on the Monday. Some of the group took the opportunity to visit Walcot Hall Estate, of which Walcot Woods were once a part.
Joking aside, the bank holiday workdays have been a resounding success. As all of our members pick and choose when they do or don’t want to attend, organising workdays during the bank holidays has allowed more choice.
June
What happened to the sunshine? June saw its fair share of rain. Fortunately, the first workday of the month was mostly indoors – building birdboxes at Wenlock Edge. There was more rain at Attingham the following weekend for work in the walled garden. However, volunteers weren’t put off by the bad weather.
One event that wasn’t weather dependent was the 60th birthday party for group member Sheila. Group members young and old exchanged work boots for dancing shoes – a night to relax and enjoy. Sheila’s wasn’t the only celebration this year. There were 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th and 70th birthday celebrations for group members, not to forget two weddings for group members Gordon & Lisa and Ian & Jen (Ed’s note: it’s just as well that the group like cake!).
Attacking an overgrowth of dogwood was the challenge at Shugborough on 19th June. The month was completed by another visit to Attingham.
(Ed’s note: if you’ve survived this review of 2011 so far, well done…I never did get the hang of ‘editing’. Go and get yourself a cup of tea before you read the 2nd half)
Shropshire and Staffordshire National Trust Volunteers 