The First Dry Stone Walling Course of 2008

The first course of 2008 turned out to be a windy affair, not due to the traditional visit to the Chilli Lodge on the Saturday evening, but to the near gale like conditions which swept through Nabs Wood. The ten hardy souls gathered in the Station Inn to receive the theory and health & safety session; some hoping that Mark would serve them a pint of Tetley’s rather than tea and coffee! If I’d known what the wind was going to be like, I’d have asked Mark to fill my hip flask with his finest malt

It was great to meet our budding wallers, some of whom had travelled from afar as Norwich and Cambridge to join us. We had two ‘Improvers’, Ollie and John who wall professionally and were attending the course to hone their skills.

Barry Heeley from High Hoyland Dry Stone Walls kindly assisted me over the weekend although I noticed after making one round of tea and coffee he delegated that task to me!! Notice Barry trying to impress Jayne with his now famous 'Elephant Man' impression!

We were all so involved in our walling that we didn’t realise the time and take lunch until 14:30!

Saturdays walling ended about 16:30 with about a foot of wall built. As we retired to the pub for a well earned pint and the promise of a great curry at the Chilli Lodge there were smiles on tired faces, pleased with what they has built.

I was awake from 05:00 on the Sunday praying for the wind which was battering the back of my house to die down. It did – at about 13:00 that afternoon!! Boy, what a wind! It was really difficult to light the stove to brew the first cup of tea of the day! But as usual, rubbing two boy scouts together solved the problem and before long we were enjoying a nice cuppa.

The lads who stayed over at Wentworth Castle made us extremely jealous as they recounted the fabulous breakfast they had that morning.

As the winds receded the wall started shooting up and by 16:00 a tired but happy course surveyed their handiwork with pride.

All in all the course built about 10m of wall over the weekend. Ollie and John made a great cheekend and over all the standard of walling was very good. Well done to all involved!

From L to R: John, Barry, John, Ollie, Doug, Damian, Jayne, Stuart, John and Richard

Postscript: This was the scene at 06:45 on Monday 3rd March 2008. The high winds had been replaced with a sprinkling of snow and near zero temperatures. I don't know if I prefer the wind or the snow!!