Members: Lester Payne, Steve Taylor, Phil Ramsbottom, Chris Thickett, Tony Gask, Frank Williams, Margaret Williams, Iain McCallum, Pam McCallum, Jim Gregson, Dave Cazalett, Dave Wylie.

Things really moved along in the kitchen at this meet. Everybody worked hard on the Saturday to get as much done as possible. All the joints in the walls are now finished, and the first coat of paint has been applied - mainly thanks to Phil and Chris. Steve and Dave W. finished the woodwork round the new sinks. Pots and pans are now to be stored under the new hobs and stainless steel worktops, the extra shelves here being fitted by Frank. Tony put back the skirting boards, which make the whole job look much more complete. The new food storage boxes are now in place (fabricated by Steve and Dave W. over the two weekends prior to the meet). Lester and Dave C. painted all the (non-varnished) woodwork, so we now have a fairly consistent colour scheme once more (if you don't like it, you come along and do it next time round!).

Elsewhere in (or even out of) the Hut, Dave C. fixed up the new outside light above the entrance porch. Dave W. wired this into the main hut supply - discovering some fascinating (and somewhat worrying) old hut circuitry in the process. The fine tuning of the automatic switch on/off may take some time to sort out. Lester and Jim re-cycled the old food boxes as storage shelves in one of the upper dormitories. Steve disabled the coin mechanism on the Drying Room meter - somebody had nicked the old 50p piece that we used to re-cycle, and the new style ones don't fit!

We also managed to dispose of a whole van full of junk that had been cluttering up the hut - mainly from the loft. Special thanks to Steve for organising the van (which we had to hire for transporting the new food boxes).

Iain and Pam performed their usual excellent catering, feeding the whole team soup on Saturday Lunchtime. They also (with Margaret's assistance) tended to the trees in the plantations.

Iain, Pam and Steve could only stay for the one day, and on the Sunday, most of the remaining people went out walking. There were only three daft enough to carry on working (Lester and the two Daves), but when the walkers returned they helped finish off most of the outstanding jobs. Phil and Chris fixed down the new hobs, and varnished the new woodwork round the sink. Finally, everybody helped clear up so that we could leave the hut in a fit state for the next booking.

Many thanks to everybody who lent a hand, and also thanks to Andy Croughton for laminating the new Snowdonia OS Map that we've put up to replace the old one.

Right, let's get that kitchen finished! Most of the work has now been done, and it seems like the new cooker, hobs and sinks survived the Christmas Bash. There are quite a few things we have left to do, though:

• The walls need painting (the back one needs its new joints sanding first)
• Trim needs fitting round the new sink units, and some of the wood needs varnishing
• New food storage boxes need to be built
• Shelves are to be put under the hobs, so that the pans can be kept there
• The skirting boards need to go back
• The joints in the new steel work tops need tidying up and the hobs need fixing down properly
• We'll also put up a new local map, and perhaps some new pictures

... And that should just about be that.

We could do with a few willing helpers - particularly anybody who can cope with a bit of basic woodworking - but anybody who can wield a paintbrush or roller will be useful. Volunteers please form an orderly queue!

Dave Wylie, (your brand new friendly neighbourhood hut manager)

(Ed - See Dave W. at the pub on Thursdays to get your invite to that tax haven/DesRes in Wales.)