‘Please wipe your boots!’ Five of the December’s Working Party volunteers spent a good two hours this morning scrubbing and washing down the decking over the bridge while others replaced the one broken board at the far end. With the river in spate, it was quite a noisy affair but the bridge looked lovely afterwards and I was only half joking when I suggested a door mat at either end…

After all the rain, it was obvious where the river had washed away yet more of the path on the other side so the holes were filled up with big stones as a temporary measure until the spring when we hope to re-route the length of track affected.

Meanwhile, other Working Party members were gainfully employed fixing the new life buoy and throw line into place on the wooden frames beautifully made by Laurence on the side of the information board.

(Note from Anne – not skiving, just languishing at home with the dreaded virus!) Our last lifebuoy mysteriously disappeared. If anyone can shed any light on how or when that happened, it would be very helpful. These life-saving devices are costly to replace, and time-consuming to put correctly into position. They are not playthings, so if you do see anyone tampering with them when there is clearly not a situation requiring their use, please let us know, with photos if possible.

ABOUT OUR FESTIVE WORKING PARTIES.

This event has become a tradition in Stara history now. I’m not sure how it actually started, but I think it was probably in 2013. There was the memorable one in2014 when Mike barbecued some sausages (blackened & delicious with plenty of ketchup!!).

This is a photo of the goodies from 2014, and the wine mulling from last year’s event ten years later. The rest of the photos I took at that one were rubbish! It wasn’t the wine, really – my wrist
was only just out of plaster at the time!! These events are always fun, combining work and then socialising, a chance to get to know each other a bit better. And a good way to get rid of all those Christmas and New Year leftovers while feeling virtuous after the physical work! Do come along if you possibly can – all welcome (and all goodies, too!)