The last FOAW event of the year. There was heavy rain at 8 am, but by 10 am the rain had diminished to a gentle drizzle. Nevertheless, the morning started like an Agatha Christie story in reverse: first there was one; then two; then three; then four; then two more after an exchange of text messages about the weather; and finally another two bringing the number of Friends to eight – not bad for a wet morning, the weekend before Christmas.
Our first task (when there were still only four of us) was to pose by the overflowing litter bin in the Stairfoot Lane car park. Fortunately, someone from Leeds City Council arrived to empty the bin later in the morning!
Then, while our fellow Friend from the Litter Free Adel Group set off to clear Stairfoot Lane of litter, the other three of us set off down Crag Lane to unblock the culvert near the picnic area.
You can just see the previously invisible culvert at the bottom of the picture.
The culvert was completely invisible under the fallen leaves, and was partially blocked with mud. Fortunately, as we were working, Rob – who helped unblock the culvert last December – came along and was able to show us where we had stowed a long tree trunk for this purpose.
Having cleared the culvert, we then made our way to the Stairfoot Lane steps and cleared them of leaves and an accumulation of mud.
It was while we were engaged in this task, that four more Friends arrived to help!
Finally, we ascended the steps and took the path to the right, a few steps down from the top. Going down that path, we cleared several areas of encroaching holly, but the main prize was to remove a large tree trunk which had fallen across the path. Your correspondent will admit, that upon seeing the trunk in question, he thought that it was a hopeless task. However, Geoff set to work with determination and true grit and almost single handedly cut through the trunk with a bow saw.
All in all, a very satisfactory morning’s work.
Merry Christmas everybody!
and, if you have been, thank you for reading!
Friends of Adel Woods 