Members Present: James Hoyle, Jim Gregson, Sandy Gregson, Iain McCallum, Dave Shotton, Bob Kelly, John Dobson, Ding Koy, Dave Dillon, Dave Wiley, John Castick, Laura Collier.

Guests: John's Friend Peter?

I'm afraid I write this some time after the working meet so if I could just state for the record that the efforts of everyone there were greatly appreciated I hope they will forgive me if I fail to mention all the tasks completed.

Another fantastic turnout for the hut meet so a big thank you to all of you. Jim and Sandy did sterling work weeding the filtration system of the septic tank, whilst the two Johns worked hard with their strimmers and cut all the grass around the site ready for the bonfire and to stop it all getting too overgrown.

Bob painted the hall and stairs area which tidied it up nicely whilst I cleaned the kitchen with fine assistance from John Dobson's friend Peter. Hopefully we didn't get too in the way of Iain who fed us all and kept energy levels high with plenty of biscuits.

Ding painted the shelves that had gone up on the wall at the last working party whilst Dave D and Laura helped out in the garden collecting up the grass which was being strimmed.

Dave W did lots of electrical work on the hut alongside a multitude of other tasks on the hut and Dave S finished his labour of love and continued adding a final coat of paint to the boards that will eventually form a new soffit board.

DIY SOS

It was a very successful meet and lots was achieved. The hut is in excellent working order and I hope members will continue to enjoy using it.

Walking and climbing on Sunday took place in the four corners of Wales and I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. It looks like it will have been my final working meet for the time being. I have enjoyed the last three years but I am struggling to do the job or use the hut in Wales as much as I would like given my job and location at the moment so feel it would be better if someone were able to continue more effectively. I hope they enjoy the challenges the job throws up!

Finally a note of thanks must go to Chris Williams and Roger Dyke who have both made it possible for me to function as a hut manager. Their technical knowledge and dedication have been very valuable to the hut. I'd also like to thank all those who have attended my working meets over the past three years. I can't remember a single one being ineffective or poorly attended which is fantastic.

I have just returned from a visit to the hut and am pleased to be able to report that it was in excellent nick thanks to the efforts of members in recent times. This means there is little to do on the interior of the hut at the next working meet but as always a thorough clean is always a good idea and there are one or two odd jobs that need doing. The thoroughness of the cleaning will depend on how many members show up!

There may be some work to do on the septic tank depending on the progress of investigations into what is necessary with regards to the leak it seems to have sprung. I will leave to your imaginations what this work may entail. There may also be some strimming and gardening required outside the hut.

I am also pleased to report that we are now very hopeful that the ongoing saga of the hot water system should by now have finally been fixed. I am sorry that this has taken so long and that it has undoubtedly wasted a good deal of money on excess electricity charges. Following the breakage of the old system we replaced it with a new electrical system, which should have worked in theory but in practice did not operate as expected. There were several possible reasons for this for which each had to be investigated. Eventually we decided to fit an extra part into the system, which solved the initial problem but still no hot water was being generated by off peak electricity. We thought the element in the hot water tank might need replacing, but discovered that the initial problems with the system had damaged one of the components recently fitted so it has now been changed and the system should now work. Hope you could follow that!

See you at the working meet. Please try to let me know if you are coming so that we can arrange lunchtime catering.