Thursday 10/10/24 Eddie decided to tidy the shed, he got everything out and threw away all the rubbish, swept the bench and floor, then put everything back tidily. Its now much easier to get to the tools and we can work at the bench more easily.
We had a rainwater leak under the window in the wagon a while ago, so today we sealed it, we had to cut the sealant tube open and fill the gap by hand as the sealant was old and congealed so the cartridge gun wouldn't work. When it dries we’ll paint over the area to hide marks where the duck tape was, which was our temporary repair.
Anne Marie walked to the mill and weeded the garden beside the wall where Lupins are coming up, and weeded around the Cherry tree. I went down the river bank and pulled nettles from near the Cyclamen, there are two in flower now as well as the new ones which Anne Marie planted last week.
I strimmed tall grass & weeds and mowed around the Oak tree. Anne Marie has moved all the plants away from there as we decided to leave it as a grass area, we’ll keep it mown when we cut the other grass, it will become part of the large lawn.
Our shed door was getting hard to open as it had dropped and was catching on the floor, so I removed the screws from the top hinge, all the screw heads snapped off. I levered the outer edge of the door up to raise it off the floor and refitted new larger hinge screws. The door clears the floor now and opens easily.
We will open for Mills Weekend on 10 & 11 May 2025, so in the afternoon Eddie and I went over our bridge and I wrote the dates on our sign. We saw a large fallen branch on the footpath, so we went back for tools and cut it up to take back for firewood which we will need soon, we put it all in the log store.
My last job was clearing in front of the wildlife habitat as it was covered in weeds and Ivy. The wire netting holding in Pine cones and leaves came away when I pulled Ivy off, so I stapled it back on and strimmed the grass in front of the habitat.
Eddie filled up the bird food then made us a last cup of tea which we had outside in the sun, then we cleared up and came back. We saw the Swan family in the river on the way, the Cygnets are almost fully grown now.
Thursday 17/10/24 Emma and David had bought materials for refurbishing the footbridge and taken them to the mill, there was a large sheet of non-slip board, lengths of treated structural wood for supports, and two boxes of screws.
Eddie and I swung the bridge round on our side resting on a wheelbarrow so we could work on it. We removed the old floor panels which were crumbling at the edges, revealing the wooden supports which were rotten in places, but we couldn’t replace them without taking the whole bridge apart, as they are captive in the side pieces.
We decided to add new supports beside the original ones. I brought my saws and we cut the board into three strips for the floor panels, then cut all the supports from the lengths of wood. We drilled holes in the aluminium bridge sides and fitted the supports with structural screws.
While the floor panels were off, I noticed soil and Ivy wedged under the turntable, so I cleared it all to allow the bridge to rotate more easily. Eddie applied wood treatment to all the cut edges of the boards and supports to prevent them rotting. We drilled and countersunk the floor panels and screwed them to the new wooden supports.
Anne Marie brought Primroses and planted them around the Cherry tree, and Yellow Daisies which she planted on the river bank. We had lunch outside and saw a Grey Wagtail preening itself on the post in the river, a Great Tit and Blue tit eating peanuts, and a Pied Wagtail on our water wheel. We discussed the feedback from the open days and agreed it was very rewarding and well worth giving the survey cards out.
In the afternoon we rotated the bridge 180 degrees across the river so we could work on the other end to fit supports and the last panel, we cut slots in it to clear the rotating mechanism fixing plates. Eddie crossed the bridge to test it and swept the sawdust off, then we put the counterweight box of bricks back and swung the bridge round away from the river. We saw a Red Kite flying above the riverside track on our way back.
Graham Bartlett
Interactive Plan Activity Green Grant Wildflower Gallery Volunteer Previous Next Last Year Open Days
