November saw us in the depths of Ewhurst, at Lower Breache Road, tackling a very overgrown footpath and half buried /flooded farmers’ bridge. Needless to say, the culprit for the blockage was entwined brambles and the bridge replacement was about 150 metres away on the far side of the main blockage. So whilst the veg team donned their leather gloves and tried to tuck in anything that would snag on the brambles (with mixed success), the bridge team were given the task of carrying all the materials and tools through the brambles to the job site. Have you ever tried squeezing through a bramble hedge carrying an armful of heavy stuff, so you can’t see your feet? I thought not. I always said if you want new experiences, join the work party. Anyway, we struggled on and by the time we had finished the bridge, you could dance your way back to the cars through a broad swathe of clear footpath.

December is traditionally our shorter work party, followed by Christmas lunch in a nearby hostelry. Some of our members had informed me of a badly-overgrown path not far from Dunsfold Church, which sounded ideal for us to do some gentle snipping and then retire to the Sun Inn in Dunsfold. Of course, things didn’t quite work out that simple or relaxed. We parked at Dunsfold Church, gathered up our selection of gardening tools and clippers and walked off to the path.

Firstly, to get to the start of the path was a half mile walk and the section which needed clearing was about a mile long. Oh, and did I mention it was throwing it down, all the time, and the path was on slippy clay, which was getting boggier and boggier?

Congratulations to everyone involved: they worked hard all morning and whilst we didn’t clear a mile, we certainly gave it a good bashing (stoicism medals will be awarded later). It also showed the truth about how fast rumours can spread, because I was at the far end of the path towards the end of the morning and said to the person next to me, ‘I think we should probably stop now’, and by the time I turned round to pass on the message, they were all packed-up and disappearing into the distance. Fortunately, we had a lovely meal in the pub and were able to bask in the glory of telling anyone who would listen about all the work we had done, in spite of the weather.

January—thank goodness we all rested.

Remember—some people get experiences for presents these days, but you can get some by just joining the work party. See details in ‘Footpaths’ on this website.