Christmas camp Dauntsey While WRG’s centrally booked Christmas camp was taking place on the Cotswold, our regional group BITM were at work on the Wilts & Berks... ladder and with a sharp bowsaw cut off the offending branches... Is there no end to this man’s talents? In the weeks leading up to the camp, I had Dauntsey Lock had become a bit overbeen planning what jobs we needed to grown, and now that the Peterborough include, but on Christmas morning we Arms had at last re-opened it seemed a found that Santa had delivered us an extra good idea to clean up the lock and remove present – a large ivy-encrusted tree had the scaffolding that had been there for fallen across the canal! Thus our first job some years. This also involved replacing was decided for us. Definitely a job for the chestnut picket fencing alongside the Alan, a lifeboat man (with a little help from lock. his friends). It now looks very smart, but sadly Our regular Christmas campers like to removing the scaffolding proved nonhave a variety of jobs to tackle – no time practical, as the water in the lock was to get bored – so long as each day inabout two feet above the top of our wadcluded a bonfire, which Anthony liked to ers, so it is going to have to wait until we tackle, our master arsonist! can pump it out. A few weeks ago we had acquired We also spent a day scrub bashing three flat-pack metal sheds to keep our round Hignett’s hole (our spillweir at the tools and equipment in, and as anyone western end of my section of canal). There knows, flat-pack anything is never straight- were also some willow saplings that had forward. The brains of Luke and Rob were grown up along the bank in that area, both brought to bear on this task. Just to make on and off side, and we managed to Tirfor this more complicated, we had decided that some of these out. Alan had repaired the we were going to leave off the back of one engine of our work boat, so we were able shed and the front of another shed, so they to cruise up to that end! could be joined together in one large shed. As usual, our Christmas campers By the end of the camp, between other settled happily in the evenings to start the jobs, this had been erected and the roof first jigsaw. This proved so absorbing that put on. we never actually made it to the pub. We Another job, inspired by the tree that completed two 1,000 piece ones and one had fallen, was to tackle a very large horse 500 piece. The Reading Rooms (our acchestnut on the offside with large branches commodation) have installed a screen, so reaching over the canal. For a few years we were able to watch one of Alan’s Star we had noticed that it didn’t look as Trek films, to Anthony’s delight. Accomhealthy as one would wish. Although modation with its own cinema! producing plenty of conkers, the leaves Di was our usual cook, and as we have turned brown much earlier than they were working at Dauntsey every day she should, and that might indicate that it had came up with the rest of us to the cottage succumbed to the current horse chestnut to prepare lunch there in the warm. Havdisease. ing said that, we were incredibly lucky with With the height of the tree, if it fell it the weather – it was dry and not too cold. could damage the cottages, so we decided Four of us actually worked on New Year’s we should at least dismember the branches Day up to lunchtime, apparently reluctant of the tree which were pointing that way. to tear themselves away. Fortunately, Alan, an experienced mounMany thanks to everyone for their taineer, had a qualification for working at hard work. height, so he was able to shin up a long Rachael Banyard
WRG BITM Christmas Camp Wilts & Berks Canal
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