So this is autumn, huh? On a cold, misty morning we met up at Childrey, and there were many comments about me not wearing shorts for the first time this season. But look who's talking - Jim's got his rubber "longs" on!
And no wonder, Roy immediately gave him a stout stick and shoved him into the water.... here he is, struggling through the undergrowth in search of marker sticks: 
You can see that the water is quite deep now, in the narrow dredged channel that was made to keep the drainage water flowing freely off the fields. Phil is on duty helping Jim by pointing out any marker sticks that he may otherwise have missed. 
Twenty minutes later, Jim has made it down to the wider section by the wharf. In case you're wondering, the marker sticks are there to mark the highest recorded level of the water in the un-dredged cut, and also to mark the positions and heights of field drains emptying out into the canal. Important information for later on, when the surveyor arrives. 
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| Meanwhile, what were the rest of us up to? Well, here's Alistair and Malcy shovelling sand from an untidy heap into two neat heaps, each inside a bag. Sorry about the cheesy grins, they are supposed to be working, not posing for the camera..... still, at least they're both using the shovels the right way round (he he!).
Question: now that the two bags are half full of sand and far too heavy to lift..... what are we going to do with them? Oh, use the Hy-Mac to shift them. Good plan. 
But what's this? There's something nesting under the Hy-Mac! No, it's just Roy applying, er, grease of some kind. Or possibly mastic: at any rate, something that comes in a long tube - don't ask me, I'm not an hexpert on these things. 
Bob gets in and starts it up: 
Roy explains to Alistair how to tie a knot in a length of rope without having to cut it first. There's some confusion over "left over right" and "right over left" and "which one is left, again?". 
Having moved the bags of sand, Bob trundles off to continue widening the channel. 
While the rest of us stop for a tea-break. (aargh, I'm turning into Vic!) Here's Alistair using a non-conventional implement (a fork) to drinnk his tea. All together now, "there is no fork". 
Bob starts the impressive work of dredging the channel. Drat, I forgot to ask how much the bucket holds: I reckon it must be more than half of one of those one-tonne bags. Hugely impressive. Soooo much better than having to dig it all out with shovels! 
Half an hour later, the wharf section is done - you can see it in the background here, as we have moved further up towards the road. That's "up" as in "upstream", as the canal flows from west to east, from Childrey over the fields to the Challows and then on to Wantage and, eventually, Abingdon and the Thames (cries of "hoorah!" and waving of flags). 
Bob and Roy having a technical discussion about the Hy-Mac. It doesn't seem to have a name, unlike Blue, the little digger. I did ask, once, what they called it: the response seemed to be "Start, you b**ch!" which wasn't particularly catchy. 
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Meanwhile, here's Vic with the pile of dredgings, sowing grape seeds in the hopes of having a crop for next season.
The rest of us had wandered further down, onto the private section of the towpath (it's ok, we have permission) to do some scrub bashing and burning of stumps. Lots of burrs around, and here's Malcy saying "I'm too hairy to do this!" 
I'm coppicing the willows (sounds like a folk dance, doesn't it?) in the hopes of getting enough material to make another chair, and Alistair is finding that the loppers are, er, how can I put it, a bit temperamental. Anyone out there who works in a hardware store that could spare us a new ratchet lopper? Go on, be a sport, donate it to us! Contact me by clicking here if you can help us - please! please! 
Jim's finally finished wading (although Bob is still dredging, once he's in a digger you just can't get him out!) and is saying that the bonfire is a bit pathetic. 
Come on Roy, blow on it! 
Ah, that's better. Well done Roy. 
I pop up the towpath to see how the dredging is coming along, and it's going well - there's Phil behind the digger, on duty as Banksman (I did my turn this morning). 
When I get back to the bonfire, what on earth is going on? Answers on a postcard, please..... at least it's making Malcy and Alistair laugh, whatever it is. 
Well, I'd call that bonfire a pretty good one, wouldn't you? 
The Mount Rushmore of Canal Club... 
Finally, here's Alistair's photo of Roy walking merrily back along the towpath with some rubbish on his pitchfork. What a happy chappy. But look - whatever is that strange hand-signal? Oh, he's saying that there's only two more jobs to do, then we're done for the day. That's ok then! 
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