It was a dull and windy start to the mixed Beginners and Improvers Course in the beautiful surroundings of the Scottish Borders. We were here to assist Colin Purvis of Border Stonecraft (www.borderstonecraft.co.uk) to deliver the course.Anne and Dylan (and later Jack) formed the beginners contingent, while Aaron, Grant, John, Ron, June and Alastair were returning for further training
It wasn't long before the poor weather was forgotten and everyone was concentrating hard on the task in hand.
Here we can see two smashing lads, Grant and Ron, pondering about their cheek end and their choice of stone. Not an easy selection where the availability of good stone for building a cheek end is limited. Grant's standard ofwalling amazes me as he only has one hand. He must enjoy it too as he has told Colin he'll be returning on the week long course in July. So if you want a place on the week long Improvers Course in Hawick (16th-20th July) you'd better call 'tout de suite' to Colin or Jacqui on 01450 370290 or Les on 07952 551025!
As I've explained before, the stone around Hawick is much different to the flat bedded sedimentary stone found in South Yorkshire. It's much smaller and harder making construction much like doing a 3D jigsaw. Experts like Colin make walling with this stone look easy and the end result (when it's built properly) looks wonderful. A good waller should be able to wall with all types of stone as the basic techniques are the same but local methods are essential to construct a wall in the traditional style of the area.
After playing rugby on Saturday morning, Colin's 9 year old son Jack had pleaded with his Dad to let him come and lend a hand. From what I saw of his work he's going to be a better dyker than his Dad someday! (Thats after he's finished his Scotland rugby career!)
Here we are at the end of day one. Thankfully the rain had held off and we get to thoughstone height (the first lift) before calling it a day. Because of the shortage of long stones to act as throughstones, we used a technique of using two of the longest stones available and overlapping them in consecutive layers to give the wall the strength it needs to support several tonnes of stone.
Ron and Anne can be seen here discussing the day, or maybe his last dinner at Annes beautiful hotel at Kelso which is about 30 minutes from the Hawick walling sites. Anne originates from Paris and after admiring the miles of walls around her home, she decided to learn how they are built. She made an excellent job and has a very good eye for stone choice. You can find out more about Annes family run hotel at www.ednamhouse.com. I'm hoping to stay there sometime - so you're forewarned Anne!
After a long day, taking in the last 30 minutes of the Italy v Wales game at the Balmoral in Hawick, it was off to Colin's house for some more wonderful hospitality. Jacqui cooked another wonderful meal and I had a splendid evening in their company. Colin you're a lucky man!
I eventually left the Purvis household in peace and headed back to the best B&B I've ever stayed in. It's called Lynnwood Cottage and more details can be found at http://www.lynnwoodcottage.co.uk/
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned Lynnwood before
on this site, but there's not many B&B's where you have your own suite to relax in and, in the morning, take your breakfast. So thank you to Maggie and David for another lovely stay.
Day two began with rain threatening. June and Alastair had completed their cheek end so they helped out on the main wall.
Here's Alastair tidying up their walling site. I think you'll agree they did a grand job on this cheekend. Colin says that this and the other cheekends we rebuit this weekend have been in ruin for 20 years that he can remember, so Willie, who's land we wall on, must be a happy man that his walls are made whole again!
Here's man mountain (Colin) himself humping large pieces of stone around to give the students some decent copestones on which to practice their skills.
The rain started not long after we did and persisted until we stopped! How's that for an uncanny coincidence!!
We suspected that Aaron and John had formed their own Knitting Circle as they spent a lot of time chatting! Joking aside, it was nice to see two students get on so well together, and help each other out.
June and Alastair wasted no time and got stuck into building the wall in the driving rain.
The knitting circle continued!
Nearly time for the copestones. There was a lot of hammering going on at this stage making small heartings to fill the gaps in the centre of the wall and form a good bed on which to lay the copestones.
Knitting Circle over, John decides to hold up the wall while Aaron looks for a suitable stone!
And here's one young man who's destined for a very long bath when he gets home!
The completed article! There's a few minor faults in the wall but that's to be expected. On the whole a very good job considering the experience of the wallers.
Once again it was with mixed emotions that I headed back down the A7 away from the land of my father. I was looking forward to seeing my family after being away for the weekend but I was sorry to be leaving behind the folk I met on the course and of course Colin, Jacqui and family. However, what was left behind were walls which had been properly stripped down and repaired, and they'll be standing there for another 200 years before they're in need of any more maintenence - and that gives me a nice warm feeling!
Postcript:
I received a very nice email from Anne on completetion of the course. It's nice to know that the course has been good and appreciated:
Dear Les,
Thank you for the great week-end; I was on a high after we finished on Sunday- What an achievment. So on Monday morning, I headed straight for the house to look at one bit of wall that needs fixing - Well, the stone is really different, no small stone there- mainly big chunky boulder type- So I think I will look at that wall for a while and think before I actually do anything-
In any case the course was really well worth it and I am hoping I can come along to a few others-
The blog is looking fab and I have emailed my friends so they can have a look -
See you soon I hope
Anne
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