Autumn Working Meet 13-14th October

Trips & Meets
1

Hi all,
it is the Autumn Working Meet in less than a month at the Cottage. It will be held on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th October. We have a varied set of jobs including finishing the Shed roofing, starting to clear out and sort the Shed, stacking next year’s firewood, building shelves in the Barn, sweeping both chimleys, giving the grass and weeds a strim, clearing all gutters and Arco drains, deep-cleaning and painting work at both barn and cottage, electrical works, gas bottle run, plumbing work and laundering pillows and mattress covers.

Damian has been doing a great job on the caretaking front, but working meets are as important as ever in keeping the properties up to spec, and for making improvements -especially jobs where many hands make light work. We are really lucky to have two properties but without well-attended working meets they won’t stay in a good state for long. All members are welcome, and there will be jobs to suit all abilities and skills. All tools and materials will be provided.

As usual nowadays there will be a communal breakfast of bacon/egg/sausage baps on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Milk will be provided. There will a communal meal at the Cottage on the Saturday night -if anyone would like to volunteer as cook or assistant cook, please let me know! We have the new oven so options are limitless (ish).

You will need to bring food for Friday night, lunches and snacks, and any drink.

Past working meets have been really enjoyable social weekends, I hope to see as many of you there as possible. If you can come then please let me know here so we can get an idea of numbers and make sure we have enough tools, and if anyone has any particular skills or a van then do let us know! Likewise if anyone has any specific dietary requirements, allergies or injuries that preclude them from carrying slates up the track!

The past few Working Meets have been well attended and we have completed most of the jobs on the Saturday and have cleaned the Cottage and gone climbing on the Sunday, and there is every chance we will do the same this meet.

Please don’t come to the Cottage on this weekend if you are not helping on the Working Meet.

If anyone needs or can offer lifts then please also post and we can sort out some car-shares. I’ll sort a spreadsheet when I workout how!

EDIT: Here you go: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GNs8K9e9R-n9iWbhR_s0ALg3ZKCaUGPIAa1P4msgQ2o/edit?usp=sharing
If you have any allergies or medical issues etc please PM me in confidence,

see you at the Cottage,

Chiz

2

Hi Chiz,

I’d like to join in as a pretty unskilled navvy, happy to assist in chef’ing as well. Will need a lift from someone though!

Cheers,

Matt G

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3

Hi Chiz.

I intend to be there.

Richard

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4

I’m planning to join. Will need a lift from anyone leaving from london if possible

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5

I’ll be coming and will drive. I may stay a couple of days after too if the weather is good.

You folks needing lifts, hang fire before asking. We’ll assign passengers to cars once we know who’s coming. We can add “need lift” / “spaces in car” / “leaving from” columns to the spreadsheet.

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6

Thanks all for the early interest, brilliant. As Khalid says, we’ll sort out lifts etc a bit nearer the time, trying to get a spreadsheet together…

7

spreadsheet added, please add your details and we’ll sort lifts etc nearer

8

I will be there, and for once might be nice to hitch a ride.

Regarding breakfast, @khalidqasrawi and I were discussing post New Members that a cooked breakfast on the Sunday is not such a good idea - it delays everything massively, not least because of the vast quantity of washing up produced. Assuming we can get everything work-related done on Saturday (as we did last time) i’d much rather get up and out for climbing on Sunday ASAP.

In any case, if others want to do a cooked breakfast, I might abstain on grounds of faster exit and just have cereal or something.

9

Hi Paul, thanks for the thoughts, the upside of a communal breakfast is that everyone gets fed a lot quicker and more efficiently than if everyone is trying to sort their own breakfast, a situation that usually descends into total chaos, and which produces a lot more mess and washing up. To be honest, there’s more delay caused by people gormlessly standing in the way and trying to load the cafetiere!

If we get so many members there that we finish all the jobs on the Saturday then between us all we can all wash up and clean the Cottage very quickly. It shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes assuming noone faffs overly. You don’t faff do you ? :wink:

Although in recent years most people have been able to get away and climb (with me being the person least likely to get away early), the working meet is for the whole weekend, and that it isn’t over til the Cottage is fully cleaned and empty. And that cleaning can only really be done once everyone is up and has had breakfast.

This weekend is about giving back to the club, any climbing should be seen as a possible bonus, not a right.

10

I’m not a faffer - but I do hate watching other people faff!

Fair play if you think a communal meal is the better bet. I’m not going to turn down free sausages.

Hmmmm. Sausages.

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11

Hi all,

@RebeccaL and I would like to join as well. We can build and fix stuff or whatever needs to be done.

Lukas

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12

Paul, I’ve worked out a possible solution; if you do the washing up then you’re facing the wall and don’t see the faffing? :wink:

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13

We’ll tentatively put our names down but might need to drop out if Tim has to travel for work around then.

Manchi & Tim

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14

@chiz hmmm sounds suspiciously like new members meet…

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15

Count me in. Need lift. Have added to schedule :smiley:

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16

Hi @chizharward . My girlfriend naomi is keen to come and help out too! She’s a good worker…she’s just finished painting the fence! :wink: Have added her to the sheet. Two lifts now. Thanx

17

That’s good. She can come and paint my dining room sometime.

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18

I’ll help out with the Working Meet, and can drive 3 other people (unable to update the spreadsheet though, due to I-Phone/ IT issues). Would prefer to have a full car to keep petrol costs down

19

Many years ago the club reimbursed fuel costs for working weekends. This would certainly help me as I shall be going on my own from Sheffield but will grin and bear it.

20

Nice one @willboxall. Bagsy two spaces! :smiley: i’ll update for you…look at us…your lil pa’s!:wink: