It Didn’t Stump Us
It Didn’t Stump Us
by: Steve P
Monday saw the teams continue with fence installation at Western Depot with the focus on the fence at the front of the compound, with the layout around the bus shelter being decided as we went to try to minimise the number of part panels required.
By the end of the day the fence had been completed up to the new 5m wide vehicle access gate, and the supporting posts for this were concreted into place after the dimensions have been checked and rechecked. Big John’s team joined after lunch and worked on the canal side fence getting several more panels in place.
Wednesday saw the moment of truth – would the gates actually fit? As usual Reg turned up just as we were starting on this, and I am pleased to say that they did fit even if some adjustment and levelling of tarmac was required to get them to open fully. Bob H on the mini digger supported us on this, and was the first person to use the gates with a wheel barrow of earth from the logging yard as they started to fill the adjacent trench ready for the hedge to be planted.
It didn’t take long for Reg and Martin to decide that the fence provided a good mounting point for signs, so we now have CCT signs in place to show the purpose of the site and hopefully encourage more volunteers to join us.
Having finished work on the side fence Big John’s team turned their attention to the ash tree stump that Peter A had been working to remove, and they soon made enough progress that the mini digger was called into service to rock the stump so that the remaining roots could be cut. By late afternoon the stump was effectively free, and Bob H on the mini digger relished the challenge of moving this into the cut, although even he was surprised how far it rolled once set free! At some stage we now need to drag the stump out of the water and dispose of it in a more professional manner!
Next week we need to complete the fence on the woodshed side, add some wooden cladding to the canal side of the barn extension, and work out where/how to fence off the area where the stump was removed. Hopefully the site should soon be secure inside the new fence and we can move on to Phase 2, taking the old fence down and starting to move the containers etc to their new locations.
