We had a good number out today and the weather was perfect for working. Down in the B&B area the ladies were putting guards around all the plants to protect them not only from the animals that like to nibble on them but also from the strimmer! Soon we will be strimming and mowing the grassy areas of Moore's lane. Also, they were doing some more work on our "bug hotel", that seems to be coming on well. There was a lot of pruning going on and some weeding of green alkanet and comfrey. There was more adjusting going on in the ditch with the new & old pipe feeds to the pond, we just need a good drop of rain now to really test it all out. We put in a "French drain" (ditch filled with gravel) between a side path and the main path. We managed to dig enough shingle from the ditch to fill the drain. This is an experiment to help drainage and also to stop chippings from the side path spreading on to the main path. If successful, we may do this to all side paths and may even put a drainage ditch along one side of the main path, we shall see how it goes. Some continued pruning back branches overhanging the paths and keeping the path edges in check. Our solar powered shed light has not been working for a few weeks so this was investigated and after taking it apart we decided to buy another and maybe we could use the new solar panel to test the old light. We may just end up with the new light but there's still a chance we can get the old light working and we could have one at either end of the shed!
With coffee today we had a lovely selection of fruit cake, buttered scones and hot sausage rolls from our vice chairman Andrew (no doubt with a lot of help from Gill).
David thanked Andrew (and Gill) for the cakes and thanked everyone for coming. He had a lot to talk about today starting with a reminder of the Bingo tomorrow night (7pm for 7.30pm start) and asked for people to bring a prize for the raffle if possible. He went on to tell us that 75% (£2,250) of the Tesco money had now been received and he would soon be contacting the contractor for an up-to-date quote. Once the work is finished we will receive the other 25% (£750). He also reminded us of the Anglian Water work that will be starting imminently, laying 800 metres of pipeline which will cross the main path near Pleasurewood Hills. This will also mean a new bridge into the field being built to allow access for the heavy machinery. He talked about getting new tools and that Andrea was drawing up a list of required tools and finding out prices, we all agreed that quality was better than quantity in this case. Next year's trip to Derbyshire will now go out to the general membership and will hopefully fill up as in previous years. Finally, David informed us that the GWCP 2019 calendar is now on sale for just £6, this year's theme is moths and once again we were fortunate enough to be provided with some stunning photos courtesy of Edwina Beaumont.