Members: Andrew Croughton, Dave Dillon, Christine Beeston, Mark Garrod, Frank Williams, Margaret Williams, Lester Payne, Jim Gregson, Sandy Gregson, Iain McCallum, Steve Taylor, Alan Wylie, Dave Wylie.

Guests: Liz Taylor, William Taylor, Emma Richards, Katie Winstanley.

What Got Done

There were three main tasks this weekend. The first, and possibly most obvious to frequent visitors to Ty Powdwr, was the hacking back of the encroaching shrubbery along the sides of the track. Andrew, Christine, Dave D. and Mark (the Saturday Gang), Jim, Sandy and Lester (The Sunday Gang) did the deed, with some of the varied lethal weapons brought for the purpose. The track actually seems to be significantly wider now that all the gorse has been removed.

The second job was to make a start on the refurbishment of the downstairs dormitories. There's not a lot to show for this so far, as all the work we did was under the floors. You may, however, notice a small mountain of spoil just over the wall in the field - this is the crud we removed from under the dormitories prior to laying down a vapour barrier. Clearing out all this rubbish took most of Saturday, and was done by Steve and Dave W., variously assisted by Alan, Mark and child labour in the form of Emma and Katie (both 11 years old, therefore small and best able to get underneath the floors). The next step is to insulate under the floorboards, and somehow get better ventilation in the void down there. After that we'll get on to improving things above ground.

The third job was getting on with the decorating of the Ladies washroom and the hall. Alan, being tall, did most of the high level work (skimming, sanding and painting the ceilings) and we resorted to child labour again for the rest of the painting in the Ladies. There's still another coat to go on in there. If anybody doesn't like the proposed colour scheme, which was democratically chosen by all the females present, then they should come down to a working party and pick a different one!

Various other things also got done: Frank put the "historic" ice-axe and rope that were donated to the club up on display in the lounge. He also put up a magnet in the kitchen above the can-recycling bin, so that you can check that your cans aren't steel before you put them in. Andrew finished off the new footpath sign that should keep walkers from straying into the hut compound when they should be heading down into the country park. Sandy put up towel hooks in the Ladies. In the Gents, Jim and Lester moved round the shelving and towel hooks. Miscellaneous parts of the hut were cleaned thanks to Margaret, Iain, Mark and others. Iain (aided and abetted by Liz and Margaret) did the catering, providing the lunchtime soup which has become the very welcome norm for working parties over the last few years.

Many thanks to everybody who came along and worked so hard. Special mention and three gold stars each to Emma and Katie who, despite their lack of years, worked at least as hard as the rest of us. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves as well (including William, aged 22 months, though his contribution was limited to painting about three square inches of wall in the hall before someone caught him at it!). If you've not been on a working party, come along next time and find out what you've been missing!

Roll Up! Roll Up! Plenty of things to do, Lots of fun(*) to be had.

The first part of the plan is to get the Ladies Washroom and the Hall decorated, now that the new ceilings are in place. When this is done, then the development and refurbishment of the Lounge, Washrooms, Hall, Drying Room and Kitchen will all be complete.

Part two of the plan is to get started on improving the downstairs dormitories. We intend to get insulation under the floors, ventilate the subterranean voids and get some sort of moisture barrier down to keep reduce the amount of damp.

And, of course, there are many smaller jobs to keep everybody busy: cleaning; putting up a slate "blackboard" in the front porch; cleaning; displaying the donated "historic" ice-axe and hemp rope in the Lounge; cleaning; tidying the store room; cleaning; cleaning; etc.

All welcome, but if you are planning on coming along, please let me know in advance.

Thanks,

Dave Wylie, Hut Manager.

(*) This is the special Hut Working Party definition of the word "Fun".