Green Hill Clough and Marsden Golf course

A bit of a mixed bag this morning. Myself, Diane and Ann went to Marsden Golf course and planted 35 Oak and 15 Rowan. Philip, Neil, Damian, Geoff, Stephen, Julia, Andrew and Duncan went to Green Hill Clough.

Coconut cake at Scammonden

Stephen, Neil, Cath, and Me - and Duncan's leg.

Very windy but dry morning at Scammonden. To my reckoning we planted 40 Birch, 150 Oak, 15 Rowan, 30 Holly and 60 Bird Cherry, so getting on for 300 total. We left 60 Bird Cherry and 30 Birch healed in for another day. We also have 130 stakes and 360 guards on site. And we have 60 Oak, 60 Ash and 60 Lime in storage ready for Colne Valley Lions on Saturday 3rd March.

We were: Dave, Neil, Philip, myself, Cath, Geoff, Stephen, Ben, Andrew, Duncan, Trevor, Peter and Brian.

Cake was the every popular Crunchy topped coconut and cherry cake. Photo's by Geoff, who's camera phone seems to be better than mine.

Back to the Sair afterwards, where we were almost put off our beer by an incontinent dog.

Dave, in his famous hat.

Proper frosty bright and sunny today. Good weather for a morning out, and plenty of folk turned out. We were: myself, Philip, Duncan, Stephen, Peter, Neil, Damian, Rowan, Cath, Pierre-Alexandre, Claudine, Edouard, Maxime, Brian, John, Trevor, Peter, Diane and Ben. Cake was a delicious chocolate sponge. We planted 90 Oak, 135 Ash and 45 Rowan. We left 30 Bird Cherry healed in on site, with approx 40 stakes next to them . There are approx 45 trees left healed in at the bottom of Baker Lane.Sundry stakes and guards scattered around the site. Will upload photos later.

We were saddened to hear of the death of Granville Shaw this week. Granville had been a dedicated member of the Society for many years and he is remembered fondly. We took a moment mid morning to think of him, and a (non-alcoholic) toast.

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.

Scammonden encore une fois

Once again to Scammonden, and this morning we planted 45 Lime, 30 Birch, 105 Oak, 15 Ash, and 105 Rowan. Grant total 300 trees, I think.

Yes, one might say that we were involved in a Baudrilliardian simulacrum of the manual labour that our recent relatives would have considered unpleasant toil - but a morning spent working in the hail and sleet of a frosty morning on a bare hillside, followed by a pint or three of beer in a pub with a roaring fire felt quite real to me, and actually pretty damn good. It beat wandering around (not very) diverse modern retail outlets doing Christmas shopping anyway. And the juke box selection in the Sair was good too, Lou Reed, The Who, Fern Kinney.

We were: myself, Ann, Philip, Ramsay, Brian, Peter, Trevor, Philip, Geoff, Ben, Andrew and Dave.

Cake was chocolate, with, apparently, a quarter pint of whisky in it.

We will take a break from Scammonden now for a couple of weeks. Next week will be Butterley and Burt Platts (for the Senior Section), Christmas Eve, Marsden.

30 Birch to be returned to Scammonden at some point. Lots of stakes and guards left on site.