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| Volume 6, Number 9 - Winter 2007-2008 | |
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Restoration Round-upWork Party Report (1) by Colin Greenall Sunday 4th November: Winwick Dry Dock Clean up. It's cold and foggy when I turn out to go and pick up Darren and Arthur, and these conditions continue until about 1pm, when a few thin rays of sun penetrated the murk. When we arrive at Winwick Bob is already there waiting eager to get started In the yard the tool trailer is pulled away from the wall to allow us access to the rear doors. Out come the wheelbarrows and they are filled up with various spades, forks, rakes, trowels and buckets, then it's round to the shed for more bits and pieces such as gloves, hard hats etc.. Paul then arrives on his bike out of the mist, Ian appears from somewhere, and so our team ready for work. On site, the first job is to remove the section of fencing to allow us easy access. This done, we can start to clear the vegetation from the floor of the dock and also finish off the weed clearance of the south wall.
By mid-day our squad had increased in number to nine, when Dave, George and John - who had cycled all the way from St.Helens mostly via off road routes - arrived. We also welcomed a new volunteer, Peter Shepherd who came for a few hours in the afternoon. We hope he enjoyed it and will come again. There was still plenty of weed growth on the south wall and this kept most of the volunteers busy all day. The dock floor was cleared by mid afternoon and so it was a case of all hands to the wall to complete the job before knocking-off time, By 4pm all the growth on the dock wall had been cleared and it only remained for us to replace the fence and tidy up the site and return all the tools to the shed and trailer. Once more, many thanks to everyone who gave up a few hours to come and help out.
For more details on our work party activities visit SCARS website, or contact Work Party Organiser Colin Greenall Tel. 01744 731746 (evenings) 01744 732031 (day time) Work Party Report (2) by Colin Greenall Sunday 4th November 2007: Winwick Dry Dock It's cold and foggy when I turn out to go and pick up Darren and Arthur and these conditions continue until about 1pm. At Winwick, Bob Meadows is already there waiting in his car. In the yard the tool trailer is pulled away from the wall to allow us access to the rear doors, out come the wheelbarrows and they are filled up with various spades, forks, rakes, trowels and buckets. Then it's round to the shed for more bits such as gloves, hard hats etc. On site the first job is to remove the section of fencing to allow us to get to the dock chamber. This done, we can start to clear the vegetation from the floor of the dock. There is more water in the dock than there was on our last visit and this means that the weed growth cleared is heavy with water. So as it is cut it is raked into piles and left to drain before it is carried up the steps to the wheelbarrows from were it is removed to the tipping site. There is still plenty of weed growth on the south wall and this kept most of the volunteers busy all day. The dock floor was cleared by mid-afternoon and so it was a case of all hands to the wall to complete the job before knocking off time, this was achieved by 4 pm. Finally we replaced the fence, tidied up the site and returned the tools to the shed and trailer. Sunday 13th January 2008: Hulme Lock Cottage It's raining and miserable when Arthur, Darren and I arrive at Winwick Yard to pick up the tools from the trailer. At the yard Ian, Peter and Paul joined us A van parked too close to the trailer made it almost impossible to pull it out without touching it, but we managed in the end, selected the tools for the day's project, loaded them into wheelbarrows, and took them off down the towpath to Hulme Lock Cottage. On site Peter and Paul began cutting out all the brambles that had grown around the cottage walls, while Arthur got to work in what we call the cesspit and cleared out the grass, brambles and young trees. Passage to the entrance path was restricted by brambles, and this was dealt with by Ian, while I began scraping weeds and unwanted grass from the block paved areas at the rear of the cottage, being joined later by Bob, who had already cleaned the Sankey Valley Park Information board, which had become almost unreadable with green algae. Darren was kept busy wheeling barrow loads of cut back vegetation to the tipping area. When we had our break for dinner the site was beginning to look a lot tidier. It was at this point that Bob and Ian went home and John and George joined us. John set to at scraping the block paving and George paired up with Paul and began clearing out the workshop room in the cottage basement. When Arthur had finished in the cesspit he moved over into the washhouse and cleared the floor of unwanted grass and weeds. By mid-afternoon most of the work at the cottage was complete so Peter, John and I began to clear some of the brambles and young trees that were starting to grow in the wall of the lock chamber. As the day went on the rain ceased and the wind grew stronger and by three o'clock we decide to call it a day. Tools were cleaned and taken back to the trailer in the yard and we all went home. Note: There has been some vandalism on site over the last year, the faggot oven has been damaged and the stone from it is now in the well - probably thrown there by the demolition gang just to make a big splash. Well, it's safe in there until we require it to do the repair job. The next work party will be on Sunday 17th February at Newton Common Lock, Earlestown. Meet on site at 10.00am. The site is situated off Wharfe Road, which is off the first turning on the right past St Patrick's Church on Common Road. The project is clearance of unwanted vegetation and fence repairs.
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As can be seen from the pictures, there was more water in the dock than we've seen on previous visits and this meant that the weed growth we cleared was heavy with water. So after cutting we had to rake it into piles to be left to drain before being carried up the steps to the wheelbarrows from were it was removed to the tipping site.
