We held a woodcraft event last weekend, here at Chopwell Wood.
It had rained and rained, for a good couple of days but we decided to crack on with the outdoor event, regardless!
As I was loading up the car, the rain was stotting a good 2 feet off the ground and I was thinking that the event would end up canceled but I set off anyway and after dodging numerous windblown branches and flooded drainage ditches, I turned the corner down to the Forestry Commission depot, to be met with this:
"bugger" thought I, then on closer inspection:
Oh dear!
I contacted our Chairperson, who also happened to be leading the event but we had alternative access, albeit via 4x4, to the stores so we decided to press on.
I went up to the allocated site and had a plodge around, it was very soggy but we had plenty of ezeup gazebo shelters as well as a marquee and in this case; a home made baker tent!
The rain just kept coming but it was still fairly warm and everyone was in good spirits and woodchips soon began to fly;
Bowl carving:
goblet making on the pole lathe:
this was a particularly fascinating process to watch, the guy on the lathe had never touched a lathe before, neither had his partner but they were soon well on their way.
We also had some basket making on going too:
another fascinating traditional skill and one that I will be learning more about, next year
We had another pole lathe set up and some live willow weaving running too but I got diverted into running the good old kelly kettle to keep the hot water going so the picture taking went astray for a while. As a result I didn't get pictures of all the stands.
This is Maurice Pyle (of The Woodsmiths Store) he was running the largest workshop, doing bowl carving:
There was lot of mud too:
but plenty of activity in spite of the weather!:
Then we discovered the brazier!
and the ancient looking alloy kettle:
on the second day, the sun came out briefly:
and everyone's spirits got a lift!
then it was time to depart and this is what we had to deal with:
this is normally just a grass verge, but the culvert out of sight behind the camera just couldn't cope with the water volume, so the water found its own path
there has never been any water running down here before, it is about 3 feet above the road and it was running hard and fast, flooding the main junction too:
the water on the junction was apx 18 inches deep but the main drain was stopping it getting any higher.
This was nothing, to what was going on outside and around about us, the river Derwent which runs through the wood, had flooded Blackhall Mill, a small village upstream from us and the river had been running 6-8 feet above its normal levels. I have some comparison pictures of the river, which i'll post up another time, but full size oak tree's, sheds and full decking platforms, came down the river that weekend!
So anyway, thanks to all for coming along and making it a very enjoyable weekend in spite of the weather
best wishes
R.B.
It had rained and rained, for a good couple of days but we decided to crack on with the outdoor event, regardless!
As I was loading up the car, the rain was stotting a good 2 feet off the ground and I was thinking that the event would end up canceled but I set off anyway and after dodging numerous windblown branches and flooded drainage ditches, I turned the corner down to the Forestry Commission depot, to be met with this:
"bugger" thought I, then on closer inspection:
Oh dear!
I contacted our Chairperson, who also happened to be leading the event but we had alternative access, albeit via 4x4, to the stores so we decided to press on.
I went up to the allocated site and had a plodge around, it was very soggy but we had plenty of ezeup gazebo shelters as well as a marquee and in this case; a home made baker tent!
The rain just kept coming but it was still fairly warm and everyone was in good spirits and woodchips soon began to fly;
Bowl carving:
goblet making on the pole lathe:
this was a particularly fascinating process to watch, the guy on the lathe had never touched a lathe before, neither had his partner but they were soon well on their way.
We also had some basket making on going too:
another fascinating traditional skill and one that I will be learning more about, next year
We had another pole lathe set up and some live willow weaving running too but I got diverted into running the good old kelly kettle to keep the hot water going so the picture taking went astray for a while. As a result I didn't get pictures of all the stands.
This is Maurice Pyle (of The Woodsmiths Store) he was running the largest workshop, doing bowl carving:
There was lot of mud too:
but plenty of activity in spite of the weather!:
Then we discovered the brazier!
and the ancient looking alloy kettle:
on the second day, the sun came out briefly:
and everyone's spirits got a lift!
then it was time to depart and this is what we had to deal with:
this is normally just a grass verge, but the culvert out of sight behind the camera just couldn't cope with the water volume, so the water found its own path
there has never been any water running down here before, it is about 3 feet above the road and it was running hard and fast, flooding the main junction too:
the water on the junction was apx 18 inches deep but the main drain was stopping it getting any higher.
This was nothing, to what was going on outside and around about us, the river Derwent which runs through the wood, had flooded Blackhall Mill, a small village upstream from us and the river had been running 6-8 feet above its normal levels. I have some comparison pictures of the river, which i'll post up another time, but full size oak tree's, sheds and full decking platforms, came down the river that weekend!
So anyway, thanks to all for coming along and making it a very enjoyable weekend in spite of the weather
best wishes
R.B.
