Working Meet

Members Present: James Hoyle, Kasia Hoyle, Chris Williams, James Williams, Dave Wylie, Dave Shotton, Iain McCallum, Laura Collier, Dave Dillon, Al Metelko, Bob Kelly, John Castick.

Guests: Rob Hufton.

A superb turnout to the working meet meant a great deal was done on the hut. Many thanks to all who came. Once again special thanks must go to Dave Wylie who came early on Friday and worked tirelessly through the afternoon and all day on Saturday repairing the damage to the rear of the hut caused by the heavy snows of December. He was ably assisted by James Williams.

Bob and Laura spent most of the day making repairs to the track; filling in pot holes. John, Al and I spent a good proportion of the day treating the kitchen woodwork with woodworm treatment, which will hopefully keep the pests away. Lots of work was also done outside by John, Al and Dave Dillon including strimming, cess pit investigations and the rebuilding of a wall to hopefully keep Sally’s ponies off our land.

Dave Shotton did a great job applying another coat of paint to the new soffit board which will be fitted at some point in the future. This was a long job and it was done very well. Chris did a multitude of jobs including sewing a couple of new mattress covers to replace the ones with the worst holes in and this has made the left downstairs dorm look much better. We intend to replace all covers as necessary as some are very dirty after many years of use.

Kasia and Rob spent all day giving the kitchen a good clean. Every glass, plate and pot was washed along with all the shelves. I also cleaned and helped to repair the fan in the kitchen with which there was a problem so everything is in full working order as well as being spick and span.

Unfortunately despite our best efforts we have been unable to solve the problem with the hot water system. Do not be over alarmed if you hear some loud banging coming from the store room. No one is trapped! We believe the thermometers in the hot water tank are not working as they should. We have tried several times to solve the problem and our efforts continue.

We have already got plenty of work to get on with at the next working meet so hopefully we will get as good a turnout as we did this time. It was great to see I almost ran out of ideas to keep everyone busy! Many thanks as well to Iain who made a great lunch for everyone and kept us all refreshed. It was much appreciated.

Sunday was a cold yet pleasant day. Some made a quick exit back to Manchester, whilst most others went for a walk. Al and James went to try their luck at Black Ladders. No message yet received as to whether they found anything in condition or not.

James Hoyle