by Colin, January 2009
One of the new paling fences enclosing the transplanted shrubs with the
newly-repaired post and rail fence in the background. Photo: Stuart.
A very constructive day out at Nunnington Hall, with Nick and his new assistant gardener, Mark. The venue was changed at Nick's request from Rievaulx Terrace, the other property in Nick's charge, as there was a lot to do in the overflow car park. One team repaired the post and rail fence running the length of the car park that had been damaged by the tree surgeon lopping most of the branches off some dangerous trees. This required several new posts and many new rails. Another team, utilising brute force and sheer stamina, in contrast to the meticulous joinery of the first team (!), put in brand new posts and erected two separate semi-circles of paling fencing to stop visitors parking under these and some other trees. The other trees had been spared the surgery but were not considered safe enough to park under. Putting these posts in, and digging holes for the large shrubs displaced by one of the paling fences and dug up by a third team, was very hard work: chipping away at, levering up and digging out up to 12" of hard core under the grassy surface of the car park. But our men rose to the challenge. Yet a fourth team spent the morning teak oiling benches and in the afternoon either helped the paling team finish off or planted small shrubs in the second area to be fenced off.
'Precision' Pete in action. You might think
that spacers were required because our
team mistakenly cut the rails too short!
Not so. We wish to point out that we
were in fact constrained by the spacing
of the original posts. Photo: Stuart.
The precision fencing team, smug in the knowledge that blunting the end of a nail stops it splitting a rail (unless it's an extremely short length of rail - but that's another story) learnt a new application for a familiar word from Mark. Apart from the obvious, clenching is also the term for driving a nail right through two pieces of wood against the head of a lump or sledge hammer, so that the end of the nail turns over at 90o holding the two pieces of wood tightly together and, in the process, making it almost impossible to get the nail out again at a later date!
Gillian presenting a cheque to Nick.
Before we started work, Gillian presented Nick with a cheque for £250 from her employers, HBOS, which she gets for completing 60 hours volunteering a year. Nick is going to spend some of the money on two large terracotta urns to go either side of the bench (up the steps inside the beech alcove) at Nunnington. He is also planning a picnic area and bird feeding station in the wood behind the shop at Rievaulx, and said, "The donation will contribute towards the picnic table and the bird feeders and bird food. Also, more habitat boxes (lacewing, bee, butterfly and hedgehog boxes) to build on our organic practices".
Lunch was eaten indoors (with boots removed) in the very civilised surroundings of the Hall’s overflow tea room, where Gillian was presented with a five year service badge and Jane with one for twenty years of volunteering. Congratulations to both.
Gillian is presented with her 5 year badge
Jane is presented with her 20 year badge
Stuart's 'before' photo
A great day all round, helped by the fact that the rain forecast for the afternoon didn't materialise. So much nicer to be able to go to the pub afterwards in dry clothes!
Stuart's 'after' photo
