Edge ranger Al, has a predicament…. he has a new tenant farmer for one of his fields alongside the A458 but the farmer wants a stock proof fence to keep his sheep in.
The livestock is due to arrive on 1st May and we are only two weeks away with 160 meters of hedge to be cut back so the new fence can be erected by a contractor starting on 23rd April.
What can he do?… Answer: Call in SSNTV!
Its Easter Sunday…will anyone turn up? (The group have not been out on a bank holiday for a number of years – they do need some days off to build up their strength after all)
Well Al need not have worried, eleven members and one member’s visitor all the way from London met up at the designated lane. Al dragged assistant Kate along as well.
In no time fire number one was burning away. So off to the other end of the field for fire number two. Both were blazing by cake o’clock, as the old fence started to appear from under the hawthorn and among the brambles.
The sun blazed down, the heat of the fires and the sweat pouring out of everyone, mean frequent breaks for water had to be taken as the hedge shrank in size and the bonfires got bigger.
Cue reddened faces and relief, as by the end of the day the task was complete, old hedge was removed and the group left Al and Kate to take down the old barbed wire ready for the next phase of work to start on Tuesday morning.
Workday leader – Peter O
Shropshire and Staffordshire National Trust Volunteers 