Fun was had by all....

...well at least for those who turned up.

It was one of those work challenge day things.  People who normally sit behind desks, doing unpaid manual labour for fun. 

It really was a good day and everything it was supposed to be, that is, an opportunity for those who don't normally take charge to organise things, for people to meet out of a work environment and to get something done which may not otherwise have been done.

We did some work for The Avon Riding Centre for the Disabled. Hundreds of sycamore saplings in the bluebell wood came to a rather grizzly end. Apparantly, the tree is more like an unwanted weed and is very invasive. If the saplings are allowed to take over, then the bluebells which, in this wood, are the more delicate English variety and the other tree species suffer.  I fondly remember playing with sycamore seeds as a child fascinated by the way that they fly  helicopter style through the air.  I will not look on them in the same light from now on!

We then went on to building and painting a new fence round quite a large field.  The fence posts had been put in by a contractor thankfully. Our task was to put the horizontal rails in and if possible in the time get them painted.  All in all, we did well.  It was amusing how professional training permeates life.  The collections folk very interested in making tasks easier, quicker, slicker; customer services folk delivering water and sweets on the quad bike and generally dispensing a positive vibe; finance just quietly getting on and doing the job and IT a little creative with the nail hitting technique and constantly calculating the percentage of the task done.

We were generously looked after by the caretaker ,who had the tea urn on the boil for our arrival and one of the trustees who looked after us with care.   The chief exectuive gave us a little introduction onto the work that the centre does, which brings a lot of enjoyment to many lives. All in all, although we did not quite finish everything that we would have liked to do, we hope that our efforts will make a difference.

No photos, I left my camera in the car and did not have the energy to back for it, even to capture the view of the new Severn Bridge and Welsh  landscape in the distance.


In the meantime, I am getting to grips with my tapestry

and, think that I am getting the hang of my first crochet project - Juliana's scarf which is a free downlaod on Ravelry.