Saturday 28 April 2012

Flag-laying on White Moss



Been up on White Moss today flag-laying along the Pennine Way with the Kirklees Youth Offending Team. It was hard work but rewarding - it stayed mostly dry and the sun even came out at one point! We finished the session on a high as the group worked well as a team to move a particularly large stone.


We were working on the last batch of the flags flown up over Christmas, so hopefully this section of the path will be finished fairly soon. It was great to see quite a few walkers enjoying the break in the weather and using the newly created path!

Thursday 29 March 2012

Health Walk Boom

The lovely weather over the last few days has really brought the walkers out. Yesterday was our second Health Walk of March, and we had record numbers! Altogether, 28 people were out on the walk.
With the growing numbers and people wanting some longer walks, we piloted a new idea yesterday. Part way round the walk, the group could split, so people wanting a normal length walk could head back to the office with a leader, and people wanting a longer walk could carry on and get back a bit later.
This was very successful yesterday with the majority of the group continuing for the longer walk. We are hoping to continue this idea in the future as we have a good number of walk leaders now.
The next walk will be on April 11th.

Friday 23 March 2012

A wonderful day for flags


The flag stones that were flown out onto the moors in January are in the process of being turned into a footpath! Lots of different people have been out helping us with this hard work. As well as our regular volunteer work parties, we have also had a group from West Yorkshire National Trust volunteers, Kirklees Youth Offending Team and students from Kirklees College.

The college students couldn't have picked a better day for working on the moors. Despite a rather grey, overcast start in Marsden, by the time we arrived on White Moss the skies were blue and the sun was warming us up. There were a good number of walkers out, as well as a fair few birds. With the sun shining and gentle breeze, it was probably the best day of the year to be on the moors!

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Flying flag stones to the moors

The bad weather that had prevented us flying out our flag stones at the end of December finally came to an end and we were able to get several airlifts in during mid-January in order to get all the stones out onto the moors. The stones will be used to help complete more of the White Moss/Black Moss footpath which began several years ago.

The stones are flown onto the moor by helicopter, then dropped into the correct position. The better placed they are on the moors, the easier it is when it comes to the flag laying. Some of the stones are so large it takes at least 6 people to move them. It makes it a much easier job if they don't have to be moved so far into position.

The first day of work on the footpath was last weekend, with the Kirklees Youth Offending team out and getting stuck in to the hard work.

Sunday 1 January 2012

A blustery start to 2012

Our New Year walk was rather successful, despite the weather! Somehow, we managed to pick the only 2 hour slot of the day when the rain just about stayed away - very fortunate indeed! A group of 14 of us had a lovely walk up to the Deer Hill conduit and along to Binn, where we were rather blown about by the wind, but what better way to blow out the old and start the new year with such a fresh feeling!