Iain McCallum, Pam McCallum, Steve Taylor, Lester Payne, Alan Wylie, Dave Wylie

Yet again a small, but dedicated, crew turned up at the Hut for a working party - during a spell of glorious weather. Presumably the rest of the club were out climbing?

Iain, Pam and Lester were there on the Friday afternoon, giving our neighbour (Mrs Brown) the opportunity to collar them and discuss at length some of the more significant issues relating to the Hut. First, the subject of Ponies. It is, of course, our responsibility to keep them off our land and not up to her to keep them on hers. This doesn't quite fit in with our view of things, but there's not a lot we can do about it other than put up our own defences. Trees then came into the conversation. Iain mentioned that one of her trees next to the track seemed to be a bit rotten and may need felling. It transpires that this is her favourite tree, as it is the first to come into blossom each year - so we'd better leave it alone. The trees on our land, however, did not meet with her approval. She thinks that the protective tubes we put round the young saplings are unsightly. Finally, she warned us that the local area has been infested by witches. Apparently they have been performing strange rituals in our field, or the "paddock" as she calls it. She arranged for the ground to be "blessed" to ward the witches off. It's nice to know that she's around to keep an eye on things...

On to the jobs that got done (much less interesting):

Iain (assisted by Lester) laid cork tiles on the floor in the lower left dormitory. This work will later be continued through into the lower right dormitory and the adjacent hallway.

Pam finished off the painting in the Ladies washroom - so no more comments on the colour scheme please! This final task marks the end of the refurbishment that was started almost two years ago.

Alan's task has been on the list for some time now: polishing the kitchen and hall floors. This should really have been done soon after the vinyl was laid, but we'd never managed to organised with the right materials. This time we had the special cleaner and polish, but still didn't have the expected polishing machine. Alan therefore did the job manually. Three stages of cleaning and three coats of the special "emulsion" later the floors were looking better than new. The passageway and Gent's washroom were also given the treatment.

Steve and Dave began the next stage of the upgrade to the lower right dormitory. They installed the wooden framework ready for insulation and panelling to be applied round the bunks and on the walls. Hopefully this work will (when combined with improved ventilation) reduce the problems we have with cold and damp.

On the Sunday, while the top coats of floor polish were drying and access to the Hut was restricted, some outside jobs were attended to. Alan and Dave re-built a collapsed section of slate wall next to Ty-Derelict, which should now block off one of the tracks used by the trespassing Ponies. Iain, Pam and Lester attended to some of the trees in our plantations, straightening those that had blown (or been knocked?) askew. Dave replaced the PIR on the floodlight above the front door and repaired the broken bracket. If it fails again we'll have to replace the whole thing - lamp, PIR, bracket, fixings and all.

There were, as usual, a raft of minor maintenance jobs: providing new gas lighters for the kitchen, ripping up the old underlay in the lower right dormitory, clearing a blocked sink in the Ladies washroom, checking that there weren't any significant pot-holes in the track, etc., etc., etc.

Lunches were, as is now the norm, provided by McCallum Catering Ltd.

Many thanks to the team who, though few in number, managed to finish all of the jobs that were on the list for the weekend.

Not a huge number of major jobs on the list this time, but there's always something else that ends up needing attention. There are two main tasks, plus a few smaller ones to keep us busy. If things go well then people may actually be able to get out and do some climbing on the Sunday (if the weather's good)!

1. Finish off the painting in the Ladies Washroom. It shouldn't take long to do complete this one unless there's another dispute over the colour scheme. I don't mind what colour it ends up, just as long as it gets done.

2. Install ducting for ventilating the dormitories. This is the main "technical" job planned for this meet. We'll need to hire a core drill to get through the internal walls in a few (hidden) places. Panelling round the bunks in the lower RHS dormitory will eventually conceal this ductwork.

3. Polish the kitchen and hall floors (if we remember to buy the special polish); tidy the store room; general maintenance, cleaning etc.

I'll make the usual request that people let me know in advance if they are thinking of coming along. It helps plan how much work we are likely to get done, as well as providing an idea of the amount of soup needed for the lunches. My home and work "phone numbers, plus my e-mail address, are in the new handbook and I'm nearly always down the pub on a Thursday so there's no excuse!