On the Green Light: go

“There are people who want to do something different every day,” remarked one of our volunteers.

Today there were opportunities for most of our Green-Gymmers to experience something new.  On the slate, another job postponed from autumn because of ‘issues’ with the weather: willow-coppicing and cuttings-recycling which another volunteer group had been unable to finish due to being flooded out.

Ironically, there had been a possibility that we ourselves would have had to have left it for this week on account of the weather.  Gusts of wind the day before had been interesting.  If it had been similarly gusting today, while we working under trees, the combination of wind and crack-willow could easily have done more than whip our hair. 

Fortunately, the local forecast showed that wind speeds were falling.  So, not for the first time, it was a green light for Green Gym to complete the year’s portion of the cyclical willow clearance at Mowbray Fields.

Unfortunately, it had been raining heavily the night before.  “The area we’re working in is one of the driest bits!” announced the site warden cheerfully.  Before dampening any undue optimism induced by that statement by adding: “We just have to go through a wet bit to get there.”

It was no exaggeration to describe the area we had to cross as “a wet bit”.  If anything, it was something of an understatement:

Moreover, the willow rods, when cut, had to be dragged across that “wet bit” to be processed into bundles for recycling as river-bank stabilisation materials. 

To add to the sense of occasion, there were occasional gunshots to be heard from the neighbouring field.  Presumably a farmer taking pot-shots at birds, but that didn’t stop Green-Gymmers calling out cheerfully, “Missed again!”  And, as the shots grew ever closer:

Volunteer 1: “Don’t worry, as long as they’re 50 to 100 yards away, you’re not in any danger.”

C: “No, but you will be if I shout, ‘Take cover!’ and you throw yourselves down here!”

Volunteer 2: “M-hm, hit the ground here – splash!”

Volunteer 1: “Throw yourself down on an asterisk.”

'Asterisk': new specialist term adopted by Green Gym.  This was the production line:

The team in the background was on light duties (no wellies).  Their tasks, however, were no less crucial to the success of the operation.  Cutting wire:

Tying a loop at the end of each length …

and guarding the supplies for tea-break:

The sunshine (while it lasted) was so warm that I’m sure I heard someone say “Caribbean”, as I delivered yet another load of raw materials to the manufacturing site.  “Hallucinating,” explained another volunteer: “wire-cutting and winding does that to you!”

As for the other new experiences on offer, some of the workforce this morning had done pruning before, but not on the scale of willow-coppicing.  Some had made asterisks before, but again not on that scale; while others had never made asterisks before at all.  And most of us had never seen a drone in real life before:

And if you are not clear about the new meaning of the word ‘asterisk’ – or you want to learn how it came about – you’ll just have to come to a Green-Gym session.