Ten People went to Mow

Rather a desultory start to the morning as volunteers wandered in a little later than usual but eventually there were ten of us at the Sustead sites. Once again, everything had grown very quickly so we set to scything and raking the Surveyor’s Allotment. Regular scythers were in short supply so two ‘irregular’ mowers joined two experts – and Trevor gave everybody else a short lesson in scything technique. We were told that the trunk does the work, not the arms, something I always forget!

Two volunteers went round the Spurrell’s Wood footpaths, cutting back offending brambles and nettles, prior to the scythers and rakers hitting the wood after a coffee break (and Jane’s excellent fruit cake). And three of us took off for East Beckham Common to do some clearing and tidying there.

During the coffee break, we were visited by Adam Cade, a keen supporter of Felbeck Trust. He runs Susted (see https://susted.blogspot.com/) and is a member of the core team of Rockingham Forest Vision (see https://susted.blogspot.com/) – his occasional visits to Cromer are few and far between, sadly, but we very much hope to take advantage of his extensive knowledge and huge enthusiasm in the future.

A reminder to all: the next programmed work party, on Thursday August 17th, is cancelled so the next time we will be meeting will be on Thursday September 7th, in the afternoon – for haymaking at West Beckham Old Allotments, followed by a BBQ for all volunteers, trustees, friends and family – and then the AGM. And then a bat walk and moth trapping. Not to be missed! More information will be sent round nearer the time.

Peter Maingay

August 3rd 2023