Canal Club Work Party Page: West Challow March 2007

It's March, Spring has nearly Sprung, and we are gathered today at West Challow. Not in the car park behind the village hall as usual, but on the verge at Silver Lane (perhaps there's a Band practice in the village hall, not sure). Roy pulls up with the trailer, so Jim and I investigate it's contents, looking for clues as to what we're doing today. Hmmm. One Christmas tree, a ladder, some trellis, a wheelbarrow and a selection of trees in pots. Anyone's guess, then!

No surprise for the first job of the day - "you lot clear that fallen tree and all that rubbish, and get a bonfire started." Oh good, that's my job. I get a small bonfire going.

Come on Malcy, I need fuel! Get that bowsaw going!

Meanwhile Doug and Vic get a rope around the fallen tree and start hauling it out of the cut.

Here's Doug, heaving some more dead branches out, in response to my cries of "more fuel!"

Meanwhile there's a nasty unprotected sharp drop, where a drainage pipe goes under the road and spills out into the canal. Roy delegates a bunch of us to put up a simple post and rails fence around it. Jim, John and James lay out the pieces, not in the least bit concerned about Chinnor John's car.....

"Errrrr, right!" (says John) "Let's get the corner post in here then."

While they get on with the bonking, Vic and Doug start removing an unwanted Elder, while Keith ferrets around in the stream. I'm not sure why......

Malcy wonders over to see if they've got the top rail level.

Well, it's looking good, says James.

So Malcy tops off the sticky-out bits of the elder tree which in the end was not removed, but instead was used as a fence post.

Right, that's enough of that, Roy and Bob have gone off to get the tractor, so we all stop for lunch.

And what's this chugging sound? Why, it's Uncle Bob in the tractor! Quick, jump to our feet and hide the nosebags!

Off he goes, westward (not quite into the sunset, but nearly) as we need the tractor to help us fell a couple of badly-leaning willows that are threatening to fall on the cottages opposite.

As I stroll back to check on my bonfire, I see a strange sight - Malcy and James working! Ha! Ha! No, only joking. They are trying to straighten a fence pole using a forked tree as a vice. ("Molesworth II, by an act of grate heroism, bites back the merry quip which riseth to his lips")

"errr, ok, we may have gone slightly too far, back a bit."

Well just look at that, a distinct improvement, it's nearly straight. In triumph, they execute a neat doh-si-do on the verge.

But what's this? Standing back, James the pefectionist says it's not quite right, and needs just a leetle bit more work.

"I'll just heave this section up a bit."

Much better! It's now perfect for - er - limbo dancing....

Leaving the boys to enjoy their dancing, I stroll back to the road (Silver Lane) and look westward along the cut, to see how they're getting on with the Willows of Damocles.

Roy's in charge of the tractor, he's lining it up so we can use the winch to prevent the trees from falling over into the cottages when they're cut.

The rope sling is in place, and the winch starts to tighten. At that moment there's a horrible graunching sound, and the rope goes slack again. Drat! We've skipped a cog! Roy calls a halt while the winch is put back together, so I wonder back to check on my bonfire again.

Malcy's been keen to do experiments on melting glass - does an open-air wood bonfire get hot enough to melt glass, was the question. Here's the answer - yes"

In order to stop us from doing science experiments, Roy reminds us about the Christmas tree, the wheelbarrow and the selection of little trees in pots. Mumbling under our breath, we load one into the other, and trundle off down the canal to St Mary's Copse, where the girls of St Mary's helped us to plant a copse of baby trees back in 2004. That was before I started keeping this log, so no pictures, I'm afraid. Not all the trees survived, as you would expect, so we've brought along this selection to fill in the gaps.

Here's Doug and Chinnor John digging a hole, while Jensen chews the tops off the trees that we have just planted, to cries of "bad dog!".

Foolishly, I ask Malcy to "smile". Cheesy Grin Number 1.

Not to be outdone, James supplies Cheesy Grin Number 2.

Planting done, we return to the road, and move over to join the others, now that the tractor has been fixed. I've walked down the cut to the west, and now I'm standing in the cut, looking back at the road. The winch has been tightened, and Roy is in place with his chainsaw.

Splash! Down it goes, perfect.

Roy tidies up the stump, and the rest of us drag the corpse out of the water and begin the long task of chopping it up and stacking it.

Meanwhile the winch rope is moved to the other leaning tree, and the process is repeated, with the tractor pulling the trunk away from my position, to ensure that it comes down safely in the water - not the nicest landing, from the point of view of those of us chopping it up, but certainly the safest.

Finally Roy paddles back across the cut with his chainsaw.

The rest of the day was spent tidying up the fallen trees. And in case you're wondering, the trellis was added to the fence of the end cottage, but I wasn't involved in that bit!