Highwood Week 3. Pain and pleasure. The psychology of volunteer work.

This morning was one of those mornings when the pleasure of the long hot shower, warm dry clothes, and cup of tea that come after the work, make all the rain, mud and cold almost worthwhile. There must be an element of masochism in the mental make-up of our volunteers.

Pretty dismal weather, rain, low cloud and chilly. The only thing it lacked was wind, so that made it just about bearable. Rain is always a problem for the digging volunteer though. Hardly anyone is going to waste good breathable outdoor gear on this kind of work, so that means that you get to choose between sweating inside your waterproofs, or getting wet from the rain. There is no correct answer. I tried both this morning.

Not surprisingly, fewer volunteers this week, I blame the weather, plus the nearness of christmas. Nevertheless the seven of us present probably planted around 200 trees, and part of that was planting Birch on a very steep and rocky slope so respect to the mountaineering section - Cath, Philip, Trevor and Brian. 

Fewer volunteers did mean more cake each (homemade Ginger). Brian had also brought a flask of Bushmills. Everyone appreciated it, even me, and I can't abide whiskey.

Everything I had on is covered in mud.  But I do now feel warm and comfy at home.

Highwood Week 2

Another brilliant sunny winter morning, loads of volunteers, and 300 trees planted. It was all idyllic. Sadly there is no photographic evidence this week as something has gone wrong with either my camera or my memory card.

 Fingers crossed that we stay lucky with the weather. We haven't had a really grim morning yet this season, so we are due one. 

The cake was a universally admired lemon drizzle cake.  

Some people took their cars ice skating on the way up to the site, but that had thawed by the time we came back down. No damage done.

Highwood 2008. A glorious morning

Bright cold and frosty. Very picaresque. We planted on this site last year, and we are back to plant another 1000 trees. We loaded up all 1000 trees, stakes and guards at the nursery, and when we got to the site the landowner very helpfully carted all that gear across the fields on his tractor. Saving us the donkey work. We set to digging and planting in the sunshine and managed to plant 190 trees this morning. The cake was a nice nutty and fruity fruit cake. And I nailed up the first of our waymarkers to mark our work.

Last picture is of Brian, Cath, Dave and Trevor.

Meltham Week 4

Last day on this site. We have planted 750 trees in 4 weeks, which is not terribly fast work, and is slightly worrying given our commitments this season. That said, it was a lovely day, we worked hard for no money, and we finished and tidied up. The cake was highly rated home made chocolate brownies. Next week we will be at Highwood, Slaithwaite, where another 1000 trees are due to go in. That should take us up to Christmas. Main photo is, unusually, of me.