Hi folks, sorry for the extended hiatus but rest assured the
Wynpol journeyman is back on the case! Been a busy couple of months, what with
christenings and everything else it's been a tough job finding time to write.
Anyhoo, I thought I'd start off with an event that happened a week or two back.
I'm talking of course about the bodger's ball!
On the week leading up to the event, all of us were quite
busy setting up and making sure things were in place for the big day(s). I
think boss Simon had organisation overload in his head that week as it was a
struggle wrapping his head around the jobs or tasks he was gonna give us.
My day on that tuesday was quite hectic, which wasn't helped
by the gusty weather we were experiencing that week. Especially when the
lean-to shelters had to be erected! My what fun we had trying to haul a
billowing canvas tarpaulin over moving uprights. As you can see from the photo
we got there eventually and they were all nicely anchored down. I had to feel
sorry for Adam though as the poor lad was struggling with the knots we were
using.
Adam incidentally was a work experience lad we had for six
weeks helping out in the forestry department. He was pretty good I have to say,
even though sometimes I felt he was a little reluctant to get involved with the
task at hand. Apart from that he was a good worker and did his best, bless 'im!
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| Kiln alight... check, tents up... check, photographers shadow out of shot... oh dear! |
Also as you can see it was still early days, though lighting
the charcoal kiln was almost a disaster because when we first lit it the smoke
was blowing directly across Home Farm! Fortunately the wind shifted a bit so
our geese were saved from cooking. By the way the lean-to's I'm referring to
are the tent-like shelters you can see on the right, not the comparatively
easier to put up marquees behind the charcoal kiln.
Other jobs at hand were the digging of the latrine, which I
don't think was actually ever used during the weekend. Go figure. Don't worry,
there were proper portaloo's for the women and those of a mild disposition. And
yes in case you were wondering it is just a big hole in the ground! I wouldn't
call it deep though.
Aside from the lavatory experience there were water taps to
connect up; another "Easier said than done" task. Something we were
still fiddling around with on the afternoon before the big off. Speaking of
digging, twice I was sent off to retrieve digging tools (spades, mattocks,
shovels etc) only to find that when I managed to bring back the items, the task
they were going to be used for had already been done!
With the burning pits
dug (courtesy of Albert in his tractor) we then stacked huge piles of wood
adjacent to the pits for use on the day. With the timber trailer now able to be
used the movement of wood across the site for various purposes was a bit
easier. The timber trailer had been out of action for some time because none of
us were trained to use it, not because it was broken. We don't break things
that quickly you know! Well, not that often.
Aside from fetching the pole-lathing equipment and helping
to put other marquees up, the other big task we undertook was the construction
of the barbeque area for the official National Trust BBQ! This was partly done
with the timber trailer and partly man-power - i.e. team forestry.
After careful manoeuvring of some kick-ass large timbers it
was a case of properly fixing them and ensuring that they didn't move or roll
over the weekend. Stakes driven into the ground on either side of the large
timbers were enough to hold them in place.
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| Mind that hammer Shane! |
This is one of the smaller BBQ areas we did initially before
Simon decided to bring in some huge timbers for the NT cookery area. Everyone
is hard at work, hard work posing for the photo that is! Unfortunately we had
just finished this one as Simon showed up so we had to look like we were still
doing something so he could take the picture! It's amazing what perspective
does too... Shane isn't really about to knock me on the head!
With most of the organising and setting up having been
completed on the Thursday you would have thought Friday would be more relaxed.
You'd be wrong though! With the main structures in place it was all the little
things that needed to be sorted out the following day, along with the arrival
of the majority of the bodger's from all across the country.
Luckily the new arrivals were quite happy to organise
themselves so we didn't have to worry about them much. There was the odd
problem while we were sorting out a leak in the water pipe but apart from that
there were no calamities.
So how did the weekend go? Well hang around for the next
instalment to find out! Promise it won't be a two-month gap to the next part
too.
Oh incidentally thanks to our sister site for supplying the
photos (and when I mean supply I mean "borrow", thanks boss!)
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