Our New Van

We were able to buy a new vehicle in the autumn last year in order to have sufficient vehicles for all the activities we do - volunteer work parties, community group activities and going to events.

We have now finally had it signed up so you can tell that it is a National Trust vehicle. Using money from the Youth Offending Team to get the work done, our shiny new van has on our logo and on the back a super picture of conservation work on the moors - a beautiful sunny day doing some flag laying on White Moss.

As we were able to use the Youth Offending money to get it done, we have also put their logo on the van to highlight our work together. Our partnership working ables us to work with many young people that would not necessarily come to somewhere such as Marsden Moor - it is a great project of which we are very proud.

Highfields Joint Work

A group from Highfields Community Centre in Huddersfield have been doing more work with us recently. Over the winter, they have been planting moorland seeds in the hopes that they will grow into plug plants that can be planted onto the moors when the are large enough.

Now that spring is finally here, they are continuing to grow seeds for us, but now it is vegetable and flower seeds that they are growing. These will be sold at our Plant and Spring Fair, which is our largest plant sale of the year, as well as at the weekly yard sales throughout the summer.

The latest project is a small group working towards their John Muir Awards. The group had their first session for the award on the moors yesterday, digging out rhododendrons from the Wessenden Valley - a spectacular spot. They will be coming for 6 sessions over 3 months as well as doing work back at their base as well.

A Whole Lot of Activity

I know it's been a bit quiet on the blog recently but that's not because nothing has been happening - quite the opposite. It's been incredibly busy!

The flagstones that we had delivered at the beginning of the year are at last being moved into place. We have had 2 airlifts so far, moving the stones from their piles on the moor opposite the Carriage House pub on the A62, out onto the Thieves Clough footpath.

The flagstones have to be weighed out into packs to make sure that they are not too heavy for the helicopter, and then airlifted into place ready for the footpath work to begin. The Thieves Clough footpath is in a poor state and very boggy for much of it. The stones can now be moved into place by our hard-working volunteers and the work on the path can begin.

Wind Flags on a Windy Day

Today was our half term activity - making wind flags and other windy items. The wind flags were colourful with pictures painted on them, and we also were making wind mills and wind twirlers, also looking fabulous fluttering around.

The children that came along seemed to have great fun running around with their flags waving along behind them. A fun activity for the half term.

February Health Walk

The health walk this week was busy, despite the rather grey start followed by rain. The walk took them up towards Scout, and then back down to Sparth reservoir and back up to Marsden along the canal - a nice walk to get out onto the edges of the moors.

There are several different routes that we have for the health walks, but due to this being Marsden, there are usually hills to climb up and then back down again! However, it's worth going up to get the fabulous views - if the cloud isn't too low.

The daffodils are on their way up, and we are now looking forward to seeing the first of the yellow flowers to appear. Spring is on the way!

Perfect Conditions for Flying

The Tuesday work party this week had some good weather. And they weren't the only ones making the most of it. There were plenty of people up at Buckstones taking advantage of the conditions and out flying in one form or other. The work party were up at Buckstones doing a litter pick and spotted seven paragliders altogether!

6 Caches to Find...

A group of teenagers from Oldham came out for a geo-caching walk this weekend. We did just over 6km going around Redbrook and Pule. We had 6 caches to find...and we found all 6! Success!

When we left the car park there was a bitter wind and everyone was rather cold. But as we carried on the wind died down and some warmth from the sun got through. It was a lovely few hours out walking with some good enthusiastic people!

Tree Guard Removal near Eastergate

Last Saturday, the Kirklees Youth Offenders were out on the moors once again. The task for this session was to help with the removal of more of the tree guards in one of the cloughs near Eastergate.

We got a good lot out and had some sizeable piles by the end of the day. Just a shame that it was cloudy rather than the clear blue skies that we had for the rest of that week.

Hunting out some Geo-caches

On a glorious sunny day last week Alyssa and Alison went out for a spot of geo-caching. We weren't just out for a nice day (although it did seem like that!) but were doing a pre-walk and putting information out about the estate is some of the boxes we found.

Our walk took us up to Swellands and Black Moss first of all, then back down to Mount Road and all over the sides of Pule Hill, we had a quick look through Pule Arch, and then carried on across to the Engine House before finally ending back at Brun Clough car park.

Despite the sun, there were still quite a few icy patches and some very amazing icicles and some generally interesting looking bits of icy grass.

As we came down towards the engine house, we came across some of the flagstones that have been delivered that will soon be flown out to site. These will be making a path running up Theives Clough. So watch out for this! The airlift is likely to be next week, and the path will be underway in March (if not earlier). That will make that path a lot better for walking!

Removing the Tree Guards

Tuesday's work party this week was out collecting some more of the tree guards from the moors. We were out in a clough near Eastergate bagging up the tree guards that had been taken down, ready to be collected by the ATV at a later date.

It was a rather pleasant task, working where it was sheltered from the wind, no rain (just for a change) and next to a babbling brook. Despite getting a good lot of work done, there are still plenty more tree guards to bag up and collect!