No workday for me last week due to a well-earned holiday. I swapped my usual view for this.

However, the guys did a load of work on the path width from The Bear bridge right to the northern end.

It’s made a huge difference with grass starting to grow at the edges, and we have our flop zone when everything goes over and starts to wilt, it is no longer going to fall towards the middle of the path.

Seven of us congregated this week with drain rods, spades, a length of pipe, saws, and all sorts to try and get the source of the overflow sorted and the path flat again.

Sadly, the blocked drain remains blocked, but we did fill in the gully with the bit of pipe.

This is one of our core values – a path for everyone, so people with a pushchair, mobility scooter, or just a child on a small-wheeled bike can use the path whilst the water quietly drains away.

Let’s hope it works!! We will not know until late winter, probably.

We had a break and enjoyed a coffee in our all-terrain mugs and a tasty flapjack.

We then litter-picked, and decided that this bench really needs work.

It’s a terrible design and not suitable for public use whatsoever. But it does lead me to the one that got smashed up by the naughty squirrels.

I had an old pallet, a bit of timber from my local DIY store, and a window of time.

You guessed it – reuse-recycle-repurpose kicked in…

I’m happy with that, and the timber, with my Wickes Trade Discount, cost just £13.50. We will probably stick this one on the Dunchurch part of the path. But more importantly, we know how to fix the other one when it finally falls apart.

Forest School & Bushcraft Area

This area has kind of grown in my head.

We are keeping the triangle of benches and will probably put a tarp up above it to keep the area dry, and then start a bushcraft area where kids can build a shelter, have logs to sit on, and generally learn some forestry skills.

There are various bits of wood that we can drag into a bit of a circle for extra seating and loads of one to two-inch branches for building.

It’s just another avenue of engagement for youngsters to learn about stuff.

Lastly, our YouTube of the path where we worked today.

The width is starting to happen at this end and I feel like we have balanced the path up a bit, in terms of seating and useability.

Next week we are putting in the triangle of benches behind the school and have to cart a load of Postcrete down to the area.

I will drop off all the heavy stuff at the Apple Grove Play Park to make life a bit easier.

Until then!

Paul