Author: chris bargman

Some of the great work done this summer !

There has been some great work done over the last couple of months on a number of routes including Nunnery Lane (K), Crammer Gutter (F), Prescott (C), Hinton (A) and Keepers Cottage (R).

Many thanks to all who have helped and especially, Steve, John and Ted.

Also many thanks to Arthur for repairing a rather nice but broken brush cutter which has been donated for us to use by Colin and Clare (bottom of Factory Lane).

Crammer Gutter – Stoning by bottom gate and new gate post and stoning by top gate

Hinton – Digger work to clear path

Nunnery Lane – Digger, dumper work to clear drains and path and stoning.

Great turnout for Workparty -10 Aug 19

Many thanks John, Gill, John, Sandra, Steve, Yvonne, Pip, Sally, Clare, Chris, Jo, Pete and Ted who all turned out in the rain this morning for the work party.

We cleared the Nunnery path and removed the large falling down tree that was blocking the route over the stream. This needed Steve and John’s dumper to provide a safe platform as the tree was wedged against another tree quite high up. We also cleared the path all across the common (Route K) as well as the path and a tree that was overhanging on Route J (back of The Mounts).

Next step will be to take a dumper load of stone to Nunnery Lane to improve the path by the gate and for some digger work to the ditch leading down to the gate. Also the gate could do with a slight adjustment so that it closes more slowly. Spanners will be needed. We will add a post when the date for this work has been decided.

Thanks again to everyone for helping to keep our bridleways safe to use. Many hands make the job so much easier!

Minutes AGM 2019 and Meeting – 30 July 2019

Present:

John (Chairman), Gill, Chris, Jo, Sally, Alan, Steve, Philippa, Pete, Louise, John, Sandra, Ted

Apologies:

Yvonne, Clare

Previous Minutes (see website):

These were approved by all attendees

Chairman’s Report:

A number of successful work parties were held to clear routes (see website for details). Thanks to all who helped.

During 2018 the group committed over 60 hrs of volunteer work (not including meetings etc.).

Accounts:

Balance as of 30th July is £662.22. During last 12 mths we had an income of £150 grant plus £330 from the Quiz fund raiser. Expenditure was £318.24 for stone and £72 digger work. We have a commitment of approx £45 for dumper hire.

We have some stone in stock for projects.

Officers:

Trustees – Chris proposed that all attending to be elected as Trustees (see Present for list of names, Seconded by Sally.

Chairman – John Sutton

Secretary/Treasurer – Chris Bargman

Proposed John, Seconded Steve.

The AGM was formally closed and the meeting then went on to discuss activities for 2019.

Improvement Projects/Work Parties

Back Of Mounts (J) and path to Lubberland/Nunnery Lane. Overhanging tree needs cutting back by where stone and drainage was done a few years ago. Also path is getting narrow and cut up in places between gorse bushes. These could be cut back to open up path.

Nunnery Lane (K). Chris, John and Steve have had a site visit. Wet/muddy area by gate at bottom of lane onto common needs stoning and section of ditch needs clearing. Need to investigate drainage under path at bottom just before gate. Looks like might be pipe with entrance in a small fenced off area. Will first need some clearance work and overhanging tree by brook needs to be cut down. Will probably need a ladder as leaning tree is lying across another tree.

ACTION: Clearance work party on Saturday 10th August 10am. Chris to send out reminder.

John will bring dumper down common to the brook to collect timber and use as platform to cut tree. Steve/John will bring chainsaw. Will need strimmers, loppers etc to clear path up nunnery lane.

Meet at bottom end Nunnery Lane off Stockhall Lane (can park at end).

Chris will cut back tree behind The Mounts. Also look at where bank is falling away by 3 springs.

Factory Lane to Prescott (D). John, Steve and Ted had site visit. New owners (Colin and Claire) are happy for us to do work.  Very wet area by gate and gate difficult to use. Needs ditching and clearance work along path as well as burning of brashings. May need more than one work party. Can then assess drainage work.

ACTION: Clearance work party on Saturday 7th September 10am. Chris to send out reminder.

Cleeton Court to High Lane (N). Getting badly overgrown and gates appear to have dropped and need some adjustment to make them more usable. Should not take too much work.

ACTION – Work party to be arranged.

Keepers Cottage – Detton (Route R). Getting overgrown and dangerous as next to wire fence.

ACTION: Ted offered to strim this and John to inform owners at Keepers cottage that we will be doing some work.

Detton Prescott (C) – Would benefit from some clearance but is passable. Possible work party later in summer.

Cleeton St Mary to Hill (Y) – We still need to finish marking this route and replace damaged markers.

ACTION: John has some posts still in stock.These will need to be pointed to knock in. Work party to be arranged to meet at Sally and Alan’s.

Crammer Gutter – Route across top of field is OK in summer. Gate in top corner is bit difficult. Need to look at how easy it would be to fix this (old gate). Agreed that we will not look at major improvement project this year (complex due to approval requirements from Natural England/SWT).

Route up common to Upper Marshes.

ACTION Chris to remove any of the dangerous white marker posts that have still not been removed since work was done by Natural England over 18 mths ago. Will also cut back overhanging trees by lower marshes. Riders should use the longer route past lower marshes and not cut the corner.

Brush Cutter – We have been offered the use of a relatively new self propelled DR flail brush cutter by Colin and Claire (Factory Lane). This needs repairing. John has repaired chain but appears to be problem with drive line.

ACTION: Chris to ask if Arthur/Dave would be happy to look at this. We are happy to budget around £200 for repair if this can be fixed as it would make clearance work so much easier. If it can be repaired we will also budget a small amount for each time it is used to pay for whoever uses it for collection, fuel (needs a trailer for transport).

If we do get the cutter repaired then we can more easily tackle some of the other clearance work.

AOB

John mentioned that in past Council have offered us access to free training eg Chainsaw use. John will check on this.

 

Disappointing Turn Out 16th June, Meeting Notes

Present:

Chris, Jo, Steve, Philipa, Ted

Apologies:

Yvonne, John, Gill, Sally

John was called to another meeting at short notice which he had to attend. He and Chris met night before to go through items for the meeting.

General Comment to Local Riders 

Over the years the group has made some major improvements which are holding up well. Coming into height of summer routes do need maintenance and clearance to make them easy/safe to use. We need to encourage all local riders to be involved in helping maintain our bridleways. No one else is going to do it.

Action – Please try to contribute by attending meetings and work parties and encouraging anyone you know with an interest in our bridleways to become involved. Next meeting will be the AGM (see later item).

Work so far in 2019

John, Steve and Ted have completed work on Crammer Gutter (Route F) and Hinton (Route A). Many thanks. See previous reports.

Finance

2019 costs to date – £320 Stone, £72 Digger Hire, £45 Dumper and Matbro Hire.

Current Balance – £613

Routes Needing Attention/Work Parties

Back Of Mounts (J) and path to Lubberland/Nunnery Lane. Overhanging tree needs cutting back by where stone and drainage was done a few years ago. Also path is getting narrow and cut up in places between gorse bushes. These could be cut back to open up path.

Action – Work Party to be arranged.

Nunnery Lane (K). Wet/muddy area by gate at bottom of lane onto common needs work. Also some clearance work and overhanging tree by brook needs to be cut down.

Action – Chris and John to arrange site visit to see if we can get a dumper load of stone to the gate and any other drainage work needed then arrange work party.

Factory Lane to Prescott (D). New owners (Colin and Claire) are happy for us to do some work on this route. Main problem is very wet area by gate.

Action – John to arrange site visit and meeting with owners to assess what is needed.

Cleeton Court to High Lane (N). Sally recently walked this and reported that it is getting badly overgrown and also that gates appear to have dropped and need some adjustment to make them usable.

Action – Work party to be arranged.

Keepers Cottage – Detton (Route R). Ted reported that this is getting overgrown but is still passable. Would benefit from some clearance route later in summer.

Detton Prescott (C) – Would benefit from some clearance but is passable. Possible work party later in summer

Cleeton St Mary to Hill (Y) – We still need to finish marking this route. Also reports that couple of the marker posts we put in need checking (uprooted, rotten)

AGM 

Proposed to hold an AGM in July. We will also arrange project work and work parties at the AGM.

Action – AGM date to be agreed and all to try attend to support the group

Meeting 18th June, Hinton Bridleway Improvements

Meeting to discuss plans/work parties

Tuesday 18th June, 7:30pm, Chris and Jo’s Portacabin, Upper Marshes.

Please come along to support the work we are doing. Suggestions for work parties/improvements welcome.

Hinton Bridleway Improvements

Steve and John have done some much needed digger work to improve the drainage and dig back to hard ground. Many thanks.