Day 7

Daz and Tina continued 'blackjack-ing' the wing walls with a bituminous compound, whilst Nicolas finished pointing up George's block work.

After waiting for the compressor to reach operating temperature ...

(It's a hard life)

Finlay and Co. nigh on completed the work with the kango - the only thing left to do was remove the debris, grind off the protruding rebar with the stihl saw and remove the safety fencing.

Meet Phil - newbie and master of duelling mixers!

Colin dug a hole ...

... Colin filled a hole

Then came a very momentous occasion ...

Happy 40th WRG Birthday Georgeous!

Day 6

DofE-ers Finlay, Josh and Kyle continued Week 1's work of breaking out concrete for a weir using a pneumatic kango hammer.

Whilst Alistair trained newbie Henry in block laying.

The morning after the mass concrete pour, Dave France of CCT has already started laying the facing stretcher course on the new footings.

Meanwhile George continued work on his curved wall with Tina and Nicolas.

Ju spent the afternoon loading dumpers with backfill for the rear of the wing walls which would then be compacted by Fido - our plucky sheepsfoot roller.

Dave France conquers Mount Staveley ...

After another long day on site, there's only one way to recuperate ...

Pudding!

Day 5

First job of the day was to complete the shuttering ...

Then sit around and drink copious quantities of tea and coffee in anticipation of the concrete.

George even dressed for the occasion.

Admiring the brand new shiny pump whilst the manufacturer engineer trained 'Pablo' on its use.

Then came the concrete,

concrete,

and more concrete!

Day 4

The majority of today was spent aligning, levelling and securing the prefabricated shuttering (see Day 3) with sprags, pins, bracers and wedges.

The nearly, sort of complete shuttering.

WRGies always bring style and sophistication to a camp ...

Cheese, Port and Puzzles!

George's slab of cheese

Day 3 (The one with showers)

You wouldn't Adam and Eve the weather. Sun shining, blue skies and a refreshing breeze! We all ambled down to site in high spirits and swung straight into action - a crack team set to work pumping water from the canal bed.

"There I was, diggin' a hole ..."

Whilst the newbies received brick saw training.

They were then set to work giving the compound a much needed tidy, removing several pallets of 6" blocks - replacing them with pallets of 4" blocks, and then moving 3 pallets of 'reject' bricks (painstakingly hand picked from "brick mountain" many moons ago) to the rubble pile.

Lunch was fast approaching and efforts were made to start pumping out the paddle culverts - resulting in an impromptu shower for Andy, who was then sent off for another shower.

After lunch, a team embarked on constructing shuttering for a mass concrete pour on Wednesday

whilst Ben, Finlay and Robbie were given training on the brick table - cutting a groove in the bricks to give a faux 'header' fascade.

As the last few stragglers started to leave site, we were hit by a mini hail shower. But we were treated to George's beautiful rendition of "I can see a rainbow"

Dinner was Lasagne (or 'Lancashire' if you're Pete)

Tonight's entertainment was bowling in Chesterfield - after 2 hours, it's safe to say we were cream crackered.

Day 2 (The wet one)

The day started with an early morning frantic attempt to relocate all of the kit back into the main hall (beautiful orchestrated by myself & mommy Tina)

We had a good hearty breakfast, during which a wild Simon appeared.

The weather went from overcast to "it's raining sideways!" Nevertheless we donned our waterproofs and PPE, and made our way to site.

Despite the downpour we persevered - setting up the welfare shelter and doing a full trailer kit check, but after two hours on a very soggy site, the decision was made to pack up and go back to the accommodation.

However, the day wasn't wasted as one group went on a magical mystery tour of Barrow Hill Roundhouse ...

Whilst the rest found their own means of entertainment back at he accommodation.

Georgeous and Ju slaved over a jigsaw ... only to find someone had stolen a piece.

Comedy duo Lynne and Maureen treated us all to a fabulous surprise ...

Happy Christmas from Staveley!

Week 2, Day 1

A group of new, fresh faced volunteers arrived in sunny Staveley, said their hellos, and attempted to find somewhere to squeeze their beds for the night. (It were reet cosy!)

We all gathered round to watch the health & safety video - after which everyone donned their hi-vis, hard hat and steelies for the site visit.

Georgeous explained the various tasks we'd be undertaking throughout the week.

Colin gave a demonstration on excavator blind spots.

The group was then taken on a grand tour of Staveley by Tina, finishing at Harley's Inn for dinner.

Having been evicted from our accommodation for a 60th Birthday, WRG descended on Staveley Miners' Welfare Club and gate crashed Roger's 50th!