Today we are back at Childrey New Road again: the weather forecast said "snow" so it was only Bob's promise of a bonfire that lured any of us out to play today.
But before we start the bonfire, Bob goes over to the landowners to check that it's ok to light one, as the wind is blowing quite strongly, and they have animals who might be expected to object to the smell of a bonfire.
Here we have the usual crew of Jim, Malcy, Vic, Doug and Mike discussing how best to do the next task: Bob has left us with instructions to dig a channel and insert a length of pipe to drain the corner of the field, as apparently it flooded a few days previously. You might remember that we spent two workparties installing a huge two-foot-diameter pipe under the entranceway to this field, to move the ditch water away and prevent the road from being flooded every time it rained. Well, apparently although our pipe did all that was expected of it, the field itself filled up with water, which couldn't get into the ditch, and flooded over the top of our entranceway.
Here's an indistinct shot of the damage: the water washed away the soil to one end of our beautifully built pipe enclosure. It's a tribute to our workmanship that the whole wall didn't collapse!
So, we're going to insert a drainage pipe to get excess water out of the field safely. It needs some discussion before we start, bearing in mind that the piece of pipe which has been allocated for the job has a distinct curve to it....
Drat, I just missed a good shot of Jim balancing the curvy pipe on end, prior to throwing it caber-style over the hedge at Malcy.
Well, here's Malcy catching it, with Roy on the far right, starting on the trench. Having caught the pipe, Malcy is sent round to the road side, to start digging the trench from the other end.
I'm given the task of stamping the soil down into the 'ole, so I clamber round the end of the fence above the pipe entrance, being careful not to fall down into the ditch.
A lone figure scrapes away, below, complaining that I'm dropping bits of mud onto him.
Sorry Malcy!
Goodness, that beard just keeps on growing....
You can tell it's the coldest day of this end of the year so far, as Malcy actually has his coat zipped up, AND - controversial news - he has a woolly pully on underneath!!
This is quite extraordinary, as Malcy normally doesn't seem to feel the cold at all. Probably all that beard keeping the heat in.
Anyway, we use the spoil from the ditch-digging to fill in the 'ole, and I stamp down each layer as it arrives.
After much discussion, it is decided that the curve should go from left to right, as it were, rather than upwards - which would be silly - or downwards, to aid drainage.
The ditch progresses, and meets in the middle, amazingly enough. It is adjusted repeatedly until the pipe lays more-or-less level, and below the level of the field surface. For good measure, we also dig a small drainage sump on the field side, and fill it with rocks and rubble.
Once Mike is satisfied with the general orientation of the pipe, it is back-filled to hold it firmly in place, with Malcy working from the ditch end, and Mike and Jim taking it in turns with Phil, to do the field end.
At one point Malcy suggest that I dig out some of the soil which I have carefully stamped into the 'ole, in order to cover up the pipe. Can't tell you what I replied, but the general sense of my ripost was of the negative variety.
Going back into the field side, I have a look at the work: oh dear, not a pretty sight!
Luckily there's another barrow-load of rocks to come, so we leave Mike to cover it over properly, and scrape a bit of soil on top to make it look nice.
At last! The bonfire!
We're all a bit chilly, but Bob has returned with permission to fire, so Chinnor John gets his firelighters out and off it goes.
We had accumulated quite a stack of brushwood from earlier tidying efforts, so there is plenty of dead stuff waiting to be burned.
At first we all gather round, just to get warm, but in no time it's exuding heat, and we are all kept busy ferrying branches and sticks onto it.
What on earth is going on here?
Answers on a postcard please.
Apparently Jim wants to see what happens when you toast a plastic bottle over a bonfire, but doesn't want to lose his eyebrows whilst doing so!
The bonfire was very successful, and very popular: we had our tea break sitting around it, sat around watching it burn, then Bob and Roy joined us and we all had our lunch break sitting around it.
Ahhh, nice warm toes!
I was left in charge of watching it burn out safely, while the others disappeared off to the Causeway.
Now I'm the first to complain if we leave a bonfire burning, but waiting for a big 'un to burn down to nothing is a bit like watching paint dry.. but at least I was nice and warm.
Is that a corpse in the water?
No, must be a strange reflection or something.
Having seen the bonfire safely out, and neatly raked, I strolled up the towpath to see if the dam had been mended: apparently it burst it's banks and split in the middle, so we had to do some emergency repacking of clay to get the water level back up.
Well, it doesn't look too bad from this side...
Hmm, looking at from sideways on, it's not so good, is it?!
You can see the line of the original breeze-block dam is no longer a straight line - well, straight-ish - but is bulging.
Oh well, hopefully we'll only need the dam for another few months: once the spillweir is in place, the section to the left of the dam (downstream) will also be filled with water.
Back in September we rolled the pipe down into the cut.
Just look at it now!
This is the Causeway, which was constructed to allow access for machinery such as diggers, dumpers etc to do the dredging work. Once the spillweir is all in place, we'll dig out the Causeway and it will be back to being a cut again.
In case you're interested, the cut runs roughly west to east at this point, with west being to the right, upstream.
This strange shot is about twenty yards downstream of the Causeway, and shows the ditch running from the fields to the south of the canal.
The canal runs from right to left in the photo, left being east and downstream.
This ditch is the culmination of the field drainage which we installed for the landowners, helped by White Horse Contractors who we paid to do the heavy work.
The orange pipe will be laid into the trench, to take the runoff from the field drainage across the line of the cut and out into the northern ditch, which is to my left in this photo.
Now, at this point it might be logical to suggest that the runoff should just empty in the canal, surely? Ah, but the canal isn't finished yet, so the water - of which there is a considerable amount - wouldn't be able to get away. For now, it has to be piped across the canal and into the existing ditch system.
And, just to show that we work hard for our money (??? We don't get paid!!) here is the northern ditch, having been cleared of scrub, cleared of rubble, and re-profiled - partly by machine, but quite a lot of it was done by hand.
Malcy is proudly showing me round all the work that I missed (shame, shame) at the last two workparties, and we squelch stickily through ankle-deep clay that has been dredged out.
The clay is just so sticky! We seriously consider starts a Wilts'n'Berks Pottery Division....
This work ensures that the water from the field drainage can move safely away from the spillweir site, which is the bit that I am standing on to take these photos.
Malcy tells me that the whole area will have to be excavated down to the level of the bottom of the cut: does anyone want several tons of clay??
Yes, I know it looks a lot like the other one... but this one is the other side of the cut, the southern side, and shows the very last field drain, emptying out into the hand-dug trench that will shortly have the orange pipe installed in it.
See, there is method in my madness.
At this point, I'm very grateful for the Causeway, as I can skip merrily across the cut like a little lambkin, without getting muddy or scratched to bits.
Having done my skipping like a lambkin, and made my way south of the cut, I find the rest of the gang playing about in yet another ditch.
This lovely shot shows Roy and Mike standing in the newly installed silt trap.
Why are they looking at me like that? They're not, they're looking at Bob who is standing behind me, issuing insults! Ah, a normal workparty day, then.
You might remember the silt trap from the last workparty report, standing forlornly in the corner of the field. Well, now it is about to start earning it's keep.
Keith joins Mike and Roy in the ditch.
They are struggling to lift the concrete slab that forms the front lip of the silt trap, in order to bed it in more levelly. Levelly? Is there such a word? Anyway, one side was higher than the other, and we don't allow that sort of thing in Canal Club, do we, boys and girls? (chorus of "No, Auntie Rachel!" from the audience.)
This task is proving difficult, due to the immensely sticky mud which is trying to pull off their welllies.
It's also not helped by them getting their levers slightly too far in, and trying to lever up the entire silt trap, instead of just the narrow concrete slab... once this is pointed out, all goes ahead swimmingly, particularly for the batch of little tiny frogs that we find in the ditch behind Keith, and carefully relocate to upstream of the dam that we built (I say "we" but I mean "they" as I was tending the bonfire) to the right (west) to hold back the water while the trap is installed.
Ah, Martin, you have feet of clay!!
This is discussed as an alternative name for the group: along the lines of "men of steel", you understand.
Finally, we are all happy with the silt trap, and it is reassembled.
Martin, having been pushed down into the ditch again, is handed the front grille which slots over the top to keep out bushes, scrub, animals, small children etc.
In case you're wondering, the silt trap accepts water coming down the ditch from the right, the bottom half of it fills up with the water which then leaves via the orange pipe which is just visible to the left of the trap.
This allows time for the silt to settle out of the water before it moves off to the left, and joins the canal at the field drain outfall point - the one captioned A Nother Ditch, above.
I didn't ask who gets the lovely job of emptying out the silt, nor how often it will have to be done, but no doubt as the months pass, it will crop up in work party reports.....
Finally the concrete lid is man-handled into position, and Martin stands back to admire his handiwork.
Then we have the interesting job of pulling Martin back up out of the ditch! It's getting stickier and more slippery every time anyone ascends, so in the end it takes two of us to get him safely out.
Well, that was the end of my bit for the day, I left the rest of the team moving metal fencing panels over the Causeway and stacking them neatly, and went home for a cup of tea!