Ty Powdwr working meet

Working Meet Report 29 March 2026

Members: Andy Stratford, Jo Stratford, Dave Wylie, Dave Dillon, Andy Lewtas, Claire Hawkins, Phil Mitchell, Kasia Machalinski, Fiona Dixon and John Evans with Dylan (6) and Robin (3), Gareth Williams, Tom Arthur, Nathalie Lacroix, Rory Marsden.

Prospective Members: Sam Rodger

A foul forecast on Friday, but a decent forecast for Saturday may have resulted in such a decent turnout, this along with some highly skilled and motivated folk meant a last-minute expansion of the list….

Andy and Jo arrive a day early on Friday to prep and conduct a new Fire Risk Assessment and make a plan to comply with the regulation changes in Wales regarding fire checks in hostel type accommodation. This was following Mark G’s attendance at a BMC Welsh huts seminar in February 26, where changes in approach were agreed as a common approach across all the hut reps in attendance.

Inside, the dorms were given the customary Machalinski machine treatment being hoovered, mopped, scrubbed and cleaned until they gleamed – able assistance provided by Fiona, Robin, Dylan and John. The lounge was cleaned from top to bottom by Andy L and Rory, the furniture all moved and Osmo cleaner applied to the floor. Dave Wylie took on moving the Lower left dorm socket – the position was identified as a priority fire hazard; and replace socket tops with integrated USBs in two other locations. The outer front porch was a last-minute addition and painting guru Nat wire brushed the walls and ceiling before  a couple of coats of masonry paint were expertly applied. Outside the gas store had a repaint courtesy of Claire and Phil. Prior to that Dave D, Claire and Phil cleaned the gutters from the long ladder and cleaned out all the gullies and drainage channels around the hut perimeter.

Up on the track Tom and Claire did a sterling job on the entire 500m length of the track ditch, clearing all the winter leaves and windfall and fishing out all the debris from the main four cross drains. Up by the Padarn gate, Sam and Gareth concreted in a new post to retain the gate when its windy.

By lunchtime Sam, Gareth, Dave and Andy S had moved on to trimming a few trees including one which had fallen and knocked a metre section  of our boundary wall down. This was quickly rebuilt by Dave. Sam moved on to trim another couple of the trees in the back coppice to stabilise the growth direction and enable better light penetration. We cut all this up by hand and stacked timber and brash for the Autumn bonfire season. Later in the afternoon it was all hands-on deck to clear the paddock of windfall as well as finish the cutting and stacking.

In the kitchen Jo Stratford ensured the workers were kept going – producing tea coffee and biscuits in the morning and afternoon and made a vat of delicious home made soup, served with hunks of fresh bread and slabs of cheese for lunch.    

Most folk were unsurprisingly quite fatigued by the evening! The following day the weather was truly foul which mostly resulted in shopping in Llanberis and heading home after a final clean and finish of a few hut tasks.

Thanks to everyone who came and pitched in, it is deeply appreciated by the HMG on behalf of all hut users, visiting clubs and our wider KMC community.

 

 

 

Andy Stratford