Twas the night before (the night before, the night before) Christmas, when all through the UWC

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse……

Icy icy car park..... great for ice skating

On a cold Monday morning, not a soul in sight, the V team (Sam and Becky) drove to Winfrith to replace an old sign,

Through ice they went and the sign they found, and after pushing and pulling it came out of the ground.

But disaster then struck – “I’ve forgotten the posts!”

“Again?!?!” – she replied, “What a spot of bad luck.”

So back they went with a trailer in tow, to take away the old sign and put in the new,

But the wind and the rain it did hinder the task, so the duo gave up and, “Tomorrow we’ll go”.

Tomorrow arrived bringing Josh and some snow, but the roads they were icy, so the trio could not go,

They played in the car park with nothing to do,

But the vehicles needed servicing, so Josh gave it a go…….

Can Josh fix it?? Yes he can! ..... well maybe

So that is the end for 2009, it’s been fun, you’ve been great. So:

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.

****We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year****

Well it’s been absolutely freezing week, but with the help of some roaring fires we’ve managed to get tons of work done. It even snowed a few times, to help with the festivity.

Typical Josh pose!!

Monday saw the return of Becky and the arrival of a new volunteer Dean, and we (Josh, Dean, Becky, Sam and Ruby) went to Brooklands Farm to meet Steve to put in one of the new ‘Jewel in the Crown’ signs. With Josh’s muscles the old sign came down in no time, and instantly people didn’t know where the centre was – the lorry delivering the new sign had to ask for directions, and we’re pretty sure that the low flying helicopters and planes were in fact also lost because of us….

But anyway, the holes were dug, the posts put in, the signs slotted in and after a lots of  “Is it straight yet?” then the posts were concreted in – and now Brooklands Farm can once again be found. But hopefully the logo won’t get changed any time soon as the posts will probably never ever come out again.

Josh didn't want to ever be parted from the sign

On Tuesday we crashed on The Island, got Lost, were chased by polar bears and attacked by The Others…. oh wait that wasn’t us!

But we (Amanda, Becky, Dean, Josh, Sam and Ruby) did go to an island, Brownsea Island in fact, and as it was mostly deserted at this time of year, then we managed to spot some red squirrels.

For a rather wet and windy day, the crossing over was suprisingly calm and unlike the last time she went over Becky didn’t get soaked by the waves. Rhody bashing was the day’s game, and after a huge fire was started then we got down to business and the Rhody was no match for us. Once Becky finally worked out how to use a saw and as Dean never stopped  then tons of Rhody was burnt.

Dean doesn't stop working - even for photos

 Wednesday rolled around and we (Hannah, Becky, Dean, Josh, Sam and Ruby) went with Noel, Nigel and Earl to Bugden’s Meadow for some scrub clearance.  Laurel, holly, hazel, and willow all had to go, as the reserve is being turned back into a meadow habitat. So another roaring (albeit slightly damp) fire was made, and eventually managed to do the job, and it even managed to cook a hearty lunch of jacket potatoes, sausage and mince pies. A brief spell of snow also made us feel nice and wintery

Dean made the rest of us look bad by doing too much work, so we stuck him on the fire

Thursday was far too cold. We  (Hannah, Becky, Dean, Josh, Sam and Ruby) went to Fontmell Down to clear the slopes of bramble. Of course, as you probably guessed, a fire was needed to burn the bramble (and keep Becky warm) and what a splendid  fire it was. With the unstoppable Dean, Hannah doing lots of work, and Josh pretending to look busy then huge amounts of bramble was cleared.

Look how much we cleared!! (and that's just half)

 So it got to the end of a very productive week, and we decided to relax a bit and do a few ‘jobs’ around the centre, whilst the snow fell around us making it really feel like Christmas.

for a brief time DWT dabbled in children's TV

 Many Thanks to Mike and Sarah for their help with digging in the Heavy Signs.

The sign went in… (since, brian has said that actually he didn’t really want this one to go in… ho hum…)

Being from the Ghetto, Josh always rolled up one trouser leg.

 although he had nothing to do with the sign being put in, Josh needed no prompting when asked to pose. After the sign was put in the ground, we met up with Andy, Nigel and their thursday group for some scrub bashing and grub. Yum!

Somehow managing to pull the exact same face!?

Thats Funny. if anyone ever ask you what funny is. that is.

So Friday was W.E.T… Wet. Josh and i ended up tidying the tool store, ‘cos someones gotta. what a mess.

...and as he drew the tools on the magical board, there they were!

 lots of tidying later…

Proper Job

 Keep it Straight and tidy or we will steal your shoes.

The week of the magical mystery tour, read on to find out more ….

The egyptian walk

Monday began with poster making madness whilst the others attended a top secret ‘confidential’ meeting locked behind closed doors, ooh the mystery!

My wonderful poster, an absolute masterpiece!

Tuesday – Brownsea Island – we arrived at Brownsea after a very rocky crossing, although we almost lost a few on the way! Fire + Rhody = Serious smoke inhalation, no fatalities but massive success! Sam demonstrated his excellent tour guide skills as we explored the island in search of well hidden Sika deer………..deer count zero…watch this space!

Nikkii risks life and limb for the perfect photo!

Wednesday – The ultimate magical mystery tour – We headed to Lorton Meadows for a hard days slog however our plans were scupered when on arrival we greeted by a heavy downpour. We barely made it out of the bus  when the idea hit us as hard as the rain beating down on the window panes!!! And thus the magical mystery tour began…onto Portland we go heyho heyho…..into the land of Lord of the rings…goblins, fires, swords……no seriously…prisons, rocks and fossilised trees! Eventually we got round to doing some work, more than we were expecting! So to sum up a successful and enjoyable day!

Rogues gallery

Thursday – Hillies gaff – More gorse and burning and gorse and burning then…….jacket potatoes…bet you weren’t expecting that! Beautiful sunshine with a brief rainy interlude conveniently timed during lunch. The end. 

Nikkii pulls!!!

The fence has been finished, the cameras are rolling and the fire has started - Sam’s claim to fame has begun. His dreams of working alongside Tom Cruise are one step closer!

Smooth Newt

 Tuesday was a success as we have now finished the fencing at Corfe Mullen Meadow, thanks to the super efforts from Andy, Nigel and Sam, and of course myself, Cassy. So cows move on in and get grazing!

We got very stuck in the mud, LITERALLY, at Durlston Pond on Wednseday, great fun! We did contemplate making mud masks – good for the skin, apparently. I’m sure the film crew from Bournemouth Uni captured our best sides, lets hope! 

Josh struggling, very gracefully, to release himself from the mud.  Superb action shot of us all!

The pond before

The pond after

We had joined forces with Durlston Country Park for the pond restoration. Here is a link to their daily diary to find out more: http://www.durlston.co.uk/index.php?id=3&dry_id=2&nid=119

An eventful morning on Thursday as Hannah, Mandy and myself ATTEMPTED to remove an old sign at Upton Heath Reserve. May I add we were unsuccessful, out came the chainsaw and hey presto, it was gone!

Our next challenge was to put up a new sign and after a few failed attempts at digging some holes, we were on a roll, plus with Sam’s superhuman strength we could never have failed

Next - gorse cutting, or more like me being attacked by it! More gorse cutting, burning, gorse cutting, burning. Throw some jacket potatoes in there and you get the picture.

Friday – Drove Hill  - Sam’s ultimate claim to fame, with his superb interview skills I’m sure all the top hollywood movie makers will wanna get their hands on him! Plus with his singing round the fire, his next venture may be the Sound of Music! It kept us all entertained. Amidst all the fun of it we did actually clear a lot of gorse too!   

The infamous sausages did actually cook, after a decade, and no one suffered from food poisoning so all is well on that front.

Josh is not amused

I’m just a little too happy for my own good      

Sam’s amazing fire (it was burning honestly)