New faces at Scammonden

Rowan, Cath, Ann and Damian, hard at work.

Today we planted another 270 trees at Scammonden, 85 Rowan, 90 Oak and 95 Birch. We were: myself, Ann, Cath, Philip, Dave, Ben, Brian, Peter, Trevor - plus two new faces, Damian, and Rowan. Guy and Mandy were also there, but working on a different bit of the site. Cake was home made scones with home made strawberry jam. It didn't rain, though it was a bit misty at times. Afterwards, to the Sair, where they have a very nice Porter on at the moment.

Ann in her finest army surplus gear, and some trees.

Happy new year! - from Burnt Plats

Hard to tell in the gloom, but I think that is me, Andrew, Philip, Ann and Brian.

This was the second week at Burnt Plats, the Senior Section came here while we were at Butterley two weeks ago. Then they planted around 100 Hawthorn. Today we added another 120 or so trees, most Blackthorn, some Hawthorn. It was a grey and wet morning, Ben's atmospheric photo actually makes it look nicer than it felt. We were, myself, Ann, Ben, Diane, Brian, Peter, Trevor, Philip, Andrew and Neil. Cake was Apricot sponge. Our thanks to Terry, our hostess, who invited us to this field, provided the trees, and made a generous donation.

Happy Holidays from the Colne Valley Tree Society

Assembled motley crew, scoffing sausage rolls and whisky. Some previous planting in foreground.

It may have been Christmas eve, but it was still a Saturday morning, so out we went into the wind and rain. It did clear up though and we had a lovely morning planting 300+ trees at Neil and Sarah's field in Marsden. We were: myself, Ann, Philip, Ali, Andrew, Ben, Geoff, Dave, Neil, Julia and Stephen, plus our hosts Neil and Sarah, plus a very special guest French Canadian contingent, Eduard and Maxime plus their mum and Dad. We had Whisky, veggie sausage rolls and flapjack at break time. And then some beer in the Riverhead afterwards. And all made it home in time to fulfil our other Christmas eve responsibilities. Result.

See, it did brighten up a bit. Marsden in background.

To the land of ice and snow - Butterley

Myself, Cath, Stephen and Heidi having cake.

This morning we were above Butterley Reservoir, planting 200 trees given to us by the Woodland Trust, and using stakes and guards bought with a donation from the Cuckoo's Nest shop in Marsden. We were: myself, Andrew, Stephen, Cath, Heidi, Dave and Geoff. It started out quite nice, but then snow hail and sleet set in. Towards the end the sun came out again. We got almost all the trees planted though, and I'll pop back and finish the last few one Sunday morning. Nice fruit cake at break. The planting at Butterley is a long term project, which started with Hemplow Wood over 10 years ago. Each year we go back and add a little bit more to Butterley clough - though the biggest challenge there is the long and steep walk from the nearest road. The National Trust use helicopters for that sort of thing you know, jessies.Cath putting a brave face on. Behind the wall you can see previous years planting.