Dec 18th
Last meet of the year resulted in sausage rolls, mince pies and other various nibbles.All washed down with bovril, mulled wine and tea with additives.
Time was found for a quick inspection of the green - all looks well. Next meet Jan 8th 2014 Merry Xmas All . . . . from "The Summer Wine Crew" |
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Dec 11th
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A dry day but no sun! Painting the fence is still ongoing. Some of the reseeded patches have been re-dressed. Chicken wire removed from inside of fence to allow easier application of wood preserver.
No work planned next week as Xmas party is scheduled. |
Dec 4th
Another 100% turn out on a dry morning. Grass surrounds mown and painting on the fence has been started. We estimate that he fence will keep us busy for around 5 weeks. Rob managed to keep his mobile phone out the paint bucket today. Essential supplles of winter nourishment were duplicated today by mis-communication between Mike and Keith!
Dave has fixed all 5 of the measures in readiness for next year, Next week (11th) is planned be the last work day of the year, while the 18th is scheduled to be mince pie and mulled wine time. Normal schedule will be resumed in the New Year on 8th Jan (tbc). Water supply turned off to prevent frozen burst pipes. |
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Nov 27th
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A full crew today!
Good news # 1 - No Rain or hail etc (after last week) Good news # 2 - Comparitively warm. Good news # 3 - Rob finds his phone after it being missing for a week - in wood preserver tub. It should now be well waterproof Good news #4 - Keith can again lock his cycle up after mislaying keys for two weeks in the pavillion. Also - Surrounds tidied, green scarrified and mown. |
6th & 13th Nov
(6th) On another very wet morning work, those who braved the rain had to find jobs under shelter. The club house floor was repaired and is no longer similar to a trampoline!
(14th) A dry day - but probably the coolest of this winter so far, Wood preserver has been painted on to all the benches and are looking as new. The shed was also been tidied. |
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30th Oct
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Green was surprisingly dry after several days of rain Apparently the green had been carrying large puddles of water for the better part of the week.
Success with scarifier today! Blades on mower were adjusted to take of less grass for the winter period. Green looks good. Another bench treated to a coat of wood preserver. Surrounds were mown and edges trimmed. For the fourth week running thousands of acorns have been cleared. All this work was topped off with some more of Uncle Dave's special tea - this is becoming a habit! |
23rd Oct
Green was a little wet when the SWC arrived - puddles soon swept off by Rob and Mike. A failed attempt to start the recently repaired scarrifier hindered plans. Acorns and tree debris cleared from the green and surrounds. The shed lean to floor has been improved and green edges weeded and trimmed. Brian had earlier in the week Brian had reseeded all of the bare patches and covered them in mesh to stop the wild life from having a free feed!
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16th Oct
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No green cutting today - wet! All furniture has been moved from around the green and stored in the verandah. Tree debris cleaned and swept. Weeds removed from slabs. bins emptied. Bovril and tea special drunk. Doughnuts and cake eaten. And then the rain came!
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9th Oct
Just under four buckets of grass were mown from the green after two cuts. More wood preserver added to benches etc. surrounds were cut by a new Summer Wine club member - welcome to Mike Stone. Fudge still is confused by absence of Brian
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2nd Oct
Short handed again today, Brian is still soaking up sun somewhere! Green cut, Edges trimmed and surrounds mown, whilewood preserver is applied to anything that does not move
26th Sept
24th Sept
Fertiliser has been applied to the green in readiness for the onset of winter. Well done and thanks to Brian.
19th Sept
Green has been scarrified and cut, while surrounds mown.
5th Sept
No news from me for the last few weeks as I have been not available on Thursdays becuase Have been catching up on my sun tan while watching cricket at Edgbaston.. In my absence the other guys have been working hard to make sure the green and surrounds are maintained up to the usual high standards. This week one of the shelters has been coated with wood preserver. This shelter seems to be home to a group of nocturnal birds who leave there "mess" behind. An attempt has been made to deter this in the future. If this fails maybe shotguns will appear! The green was cut and edged while the surrounds have been mown and strimmed
The crew are now reverting back to the winter schedule and will now meet on Wednesdays and not Thursday from next week. |
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8th Aug
Green cut for the first time in 6 days, but the shock is the green looks green and not brown! Surrounds cut, green edges trimmed and an old green retaining board has been replaced.
1st Aug
After almost 4 weeks of dry hot weather tropic like storms have soaked the green. Thanks to this, the "brown" patches seem to be recovering quickly. Green not cut today but some of the window sills have now been re-glossed. One of the bus shelters has been treated to a new coat of wood preserver. Surrounds have been tidied up.
25th July
A quiet day, green not watered or cut today, green trimmed and surrounds cut. Some windowsills were sanded and undercoat / primer painted on. A rotton fence post has been dug out, and replaced with a replacement.
11th JulyThe green has been treated to 6 hours or more of water since the end of the Wednesday B team game, in an attempt to combat the recent relentless spell of sunshine. The hedge trimming is now complete (despite RD's efforts to finish early by cutting through the cable!) - till hopefully next year! Surrounds have been cleaned and tidied up. Green not cut as it had been done twice in the last two days.
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4th July
The inside and top of the hedge has been trimmed, surrounds cut and tidied up. Water butts have all but been drained on to the green - about 450 litres. Taskmaster DM was so impressed with the hard work we had put in that he insisted we all had a special brew of tea. Cheers (Hic!)
27th June
Another tidy up was completed today, surrounds mown, green cut,for the third time in three days, and trimmed and extra grass seeds sown in the bare patches..
20th June
Green cut and general tidy up. All water buts have been drained and emptied on to the green. This is about 600 litre.
13th June
Green cut for second time in three days, and trimmed, surrounds swept and cleaned up. We even had some sun. Mixed with all the recent rain and manual watering of the green this week the grass seems to be growing as expected at last. Green is scheduled to be cut on Sat prior to the home game. Should also be cut on Sunday morning before the afternoon Ladies county game.
30th May
Still no sign of the sun. Amid several rain showers green outskirts tidied up along with more reseeding of the green. Still a member of the usual crew not here - flying back from sunnier climes - little does he know there is work to be done on the mower!
23rd May
Sorry about lack of news and photo's during recent weeks- This is because I have been freezing, getting wet while watching cricket at Edgbaston. Good old English summer!
Two of us turned up today but did not meet each other - rest of crew are in sunnier climes. Actually made it to the green on a SWC day only to find green had all ready been cut early by RD who had gone home. While dodging showers and hailstorms I managed to fork, reseed and apply top dressing to some of the patches that are slowly knitting in.
Two of us turned up today but did not meet each other - rest of crew are in sunnier climes. Actually made it to the green on a SWC day only to find green had all ready been cut early by RD who had gone home. While dodging showers and hailstorms I managed to fork, reseed and apply top dressing to some of the patches that are slowly knitting in.
2nd May
Blimey, shock horror - today we had sunshine!!
Mower blades reset, green mown. Water butts emptied on to the green, via hosepipe and buckets. Surrounds tidied. Flashing added to the new verandah roof and original pavillion.
Mower blades reset, green mown. Water butts emptied on to the green, via hosepipe and buckets. Surrounds tidied. Flashing added to the new verandah roof and original pavillion.
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11th, 18th & 25th AprilAfter two weeks off - back to normality. The writer has not been available to the SWC but has noticed in his absence that many jobs have been completed and new jobs started. The mower has been away for a few days for a service and is now, again, operational. Plumbing has been completed. BM has been busy with a brush and tin of black paint. Flagstones have been cleaned. Green has been scarrified, mown and watered today (25th). The "patches" have been reseeded and will be slowly filled with top dressing, to level them off (this will be a slow process!
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4th AprilFor those of you who are wondering why this is a day late. It is because Thursday is new SWC during the season to avoid clashing with the over 60s East Birmingham fixtures. Earlier in the week we lost hour (clock change) but have gained a day to make up for it! Today was yet another bitterly cold day. Coats and gloves were donned to tidy up the green exterior (edging, ditch clearing and mowing the surrounds). ready for first home game of the season on Fri 5th April at 11:00am.
The team would like to thank Val for her hard work in cleaning up the clubhouse after a winter of us using this as a workshop / tool dumping ground. Thanks Val. |
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27th MarchAnother cold but busy day. Arrival greeted by burst pipe - fixed by SWC plumber BM. Flatpack benches had been delivered and were awaiting assembly. Sink waste unit decided to give up halfway through the morning and was rapidly replaced by the plumber. An extra member volunteered to help - welcome to JB.
Clubhouse is almost usble (being used as work area for last few months). Shed has been tidied up. Both benches are now assembled. Green, where there is no snow, seemed to be running OK and is amazingly dry considering all the snow that has been around. |
20th MarchThis time last year we were all sweltering but today was yet another cold day for 2013 and the team had to work hard to keep warm. Guttering has been fixed to the back of the verandah. More wood preserve added to the shelf.
Old edging boards have been replaced by two scaffolding boards close to the traditional start. Green is still slightly "gritty" through through the application of top dressing a couple of weeks ago - but is slowly being washed into the green. It was nice to see three members and a guest exercising there arms later on in the morning. Crew wish Kate belated happy birthday and many thanks for the cream cakes X |
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13th MarchOn a bitterly cold morning tree trunks were cut down (with the help of a petrol chainsaw), new shelving filled with filler and canopy cleaned. Big suprise was that two of the barrels that were installed last week were over 50% full - despite not much rain over the last week. Some of this water has been used to encourage the new grass on the green to grow (sun was shining when water applied!)
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6th MarchPipe work is well under way to collect rainwater from the pavilion roof. Shelves have been fitted in the verandah. These shelves will be clad with UPVC but unfortunately time ran out today.
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5th MarchOn the 27th Feb, contractors have been worrking on the green. Work involved a deep hollow tine, spiking the green, seeding and 2 tonnes of top dressing. all applied by machines. Over 4000 holes have been punched into every square metre which hopefully the rain that is been promised tonight will wash seeds and top soil into. At time of writing (Tuesday) the green is very dry and dusty.
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27th FebruaryThree regulars turned out (Snapper missing AGAIN!!!!!) and concentrated on 'plumbing' duties.
The guttering on the pavilion was re-routed to capture rainwater for the new water butts. The back of the new awning was prepared for the guttering to be fitted next week (this was done twice 'cos I cocked it up first time. Hopefully I won't have to do it a THIRD time! |
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20th FebruaryA full house today. Everybody back from sunnier climes and weather slightly improved, compared to last week!
The green was scarrified (both ways). More trees were lopped and equipment collected to enable the installation of catching and conserving water. This is important as all water used from the pavillion area is on a meter. |
13th February
Three hardy souls turned out on a bitterly cold snowy (with sleet forecast) morning. (The photographer was missing - The Wuss!)
More windows were given the Monty treatment and they look . . . really clean!
The rest of the slabs on the equipment shed side of the pavilion were taken up and relayed.
After that we all retired to the pavilion for tea (topped with a tot of whisky) and doughnuts.
More windows were given the Monty treatment and they look . . . really clean!
The rest of the slabs on the equipment shed side of the pavilion were taken up and relayed.
After that we all retired to the pavilion for tea (topped with a tot of whisky) and doughnuts.
6th FebruaryOn another cold day the usual suspects turned up. More creosote has been applied to the verandah. Work on the pavilion glass has been started. Slabs have been lifted and relaid. Green not touched this week but some more moss killer will be applied as soon as weather gets warmer. New patches seem to be "knitting" well, but again warmer weather will help this process.
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30th JanuaryOn a warmish but breezy day the usual suspects were out in force. More gloss paint was applied to window frames. Green had its first cut of the year. Edges of the green were clipped. Shrub clearance (behind new verandah) is now complete. No show last week due to snow.
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16th Jan
Even on a sub zero cold and frosty morning the usual crew turned up. Frozen leaves were swept - to keep them off the green. Hedges, behind the fence were severely pruned - to allow access to add guttering to the verandah roof. The guttering, when added, will allow us to catch water from the roof.
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9th Jan
The Summer Wine crew met up for the first time in
2013 after their festive recess.In attendance were Brianl, Dave, Tony and Rob.
Five bald areas on the green were patched and the green treated with sulphate of iron.
More wiring was done on the lights under the verandah and the verandah posts and fascia panel given a second coat of wood treatment.
Some windows in the pavilion had a coat of gloss.
Four water butts (mango chutney flavoured!) have been acquired.
No pics this week but hopefully when Keith gets back next week we'll have some to show you.
Five bald areas on the green were patched and the green treated with sulphate of iron.
More wiring was done on the lights under the verandah and the verandah posts and fascia panel given a second coat of wood treatment.
Some windows in the pavilion had a coat of gloss.
Four water butts (mango chutney flavoured!) have been acquired.
No pics this week but hopefully when Keith gets back next week we'll have some to show you.