Working Party 18 April 2019
Working Party: Roy Pritchard, Alan Saunders, Peter Lee-Smith, Dennis Skelcher, Geoff Smith, Derek Williams. PROW Team – Tom Arnold.
Four members of the club, ably assisted by our two ever-reliable volunteers Dennis and Derek, were tasked with replacing a combination of two wooden stiles and a ditch crossing in North & Middle Littleton by a pedestrian gate and a new ditch crossing.
As the Parish Path Warden for the area, I had been approached by the Parish Council who voiced their concerns about this section of the footpath and in turn, the Public Rights of Way Team were keen to get this rectified and were very proactive in organising the materials and work.
The day did not start well as the landowner from Manor Orchard Farm Animal Sanctuary refused to allow Tom to drive the van loaded with materials and equipment across her fields. This resulted in a lot of man-handling of the gear across two fields before we could even start the job.
We were soon joined by a small herd of very inquisitive Jersey cows, one of which promptly stood on the pedestrian gate lying on the ground, causing a large dent in the metal mesh. Undaunted, we soon replaced the ditch crossing before a spot of metal bashing to restore the gate, which was installed without further crisis.
We then had to reconstruct two wire fences, together with strands of barbed wire, not helped by the fact that we had to re-use old staples as Tom had no new ones in his van!
Thanks once again to all the crew. The next Working Party will be on Thursday 20th June when we will be replacing a large footbridge in Church Lench.
Alan
