th
(1) Present: Wendy Oldham (Chairman), Don Bradley, John Bradshaw, Richard Kitchen, John King, Crawford Smith, Bill Davis,
Andrew Keane, Keith Willis, Martyn Smith, Tracey Blackwell, Keith Sturdy, John McLeod, Stephanie Burton, John Butler, Joanne Haines,
Mick Pearson, Stephen Dicken, Terry Bollen, Alan Smith, Tanya Gregson, Nic Alderson, David Barrass, Michael Wilson, John Hulbert,
Allen Pearson, Colin Pack, David Griffiths, Neil Beasley, John Oldfield, David Hicks, john Downie, Sarah Clowes, Roger Parker,
Nick Ferguson, Derek Henderson, Gordon Simpson.
Apologies: John Heslegrave, Colin Alexander, Trevor Womack, Patrick Wallace,
Guests/Visitors: Anne Green, Matt Kirby..
(2)
(3)
(4)
Previous Minutes (2 nd August 2011): Accepted as true record – proposed by John King, seconded by Keith Sturdy.
Matters arising from previous minutes: None.
Chairman’s remarks (Wendy Oldham)
Congratulations to John Downie for winning the amateur class at the Mid Lancs Branch competition, at Trawden
Show, Thanks to Joanne for organising successful walling trip to Wales. Then followed summary of most recent committee meeting: 4.1 Christmas party will again take form of Ceilidh, to be held on Saturday, 10 th December.
4.2 Cost of a suitable, second-hand, trailer, deemed necessary as the one currently used is not substantial enough, is expected to be in the region of £1,500. Following discussion the meeting, on a proposal by Terry, seconded by
Wendy, approved the spending of upto £2,000 on suitable equipment by the committee.
4.3
Succession planning – any Branch member carrying out a specific role should seek out a successor, both as a temporary stand-in & to have someone trained–up for eventual take-over of the role.
4.4
Newsletter – expected to be published before Christmas. Members are asked to submit photos to Richard
Kitchen for possible inclusion. The best will be awarded a prize!
4.5
John Hulbert recommends Facebook as the modern way of communication. Since the committee meeting he has set-up such a page on our web-site.
4.6
Training course volunteers will, in future, be given the opportunity to extend their own walling skills on
Keith’s site.
4.7
far to run.
(5)
Certification – Weekend of October 8/9 – applications need to be submitted urgently. Not sufficient so
Treasurer’s report (John Bradshaw):
A balance of ££866.78 was reported, after allowing for assorted money movements. Following a discussion on
Branch subs, the numbers who have paid, the historical reason for them & considering the current healthy state of our finances, on a proposal by Keith Sturdy, seconded by John Hulbert, the suspension of the £3 payment was agreed, from
2012.
(6) Secretary’s report (Richard Kitchen):
6.1 New arrangements for the Management Committee will be introduced at the November AGM of the
DSWA. There will no longer be individual Branch members. A Forum will be set-up for Branch representation.
6.2 An apparent disregard of the rule requiring individual membership of the DSWA, in order to provide insurance cover at non-training course events, by the South West Scotland branch is to be dealt with!
6.3 DSWA membership stands at 1146 total, amongst whom 858 are Open & 257 Professional. There have been
64 new members this year.
Richard was thanked for his considerable effort in regularly attending the Management Committee meetings.
Tracey noted that she will be standing for election to the new-format committee.
(7)
7.1 completed.
Branch Activity Reports:
Brimham Rocks – John King reported two visits in August with 5 wallers on both occasions. 5 metres of wall
7.2 Leyburn – (a) John Heselgrave, in a written submission, reported continuing building of the retaining wall at
Hampthwaite on Tuesdays – currently working on an 8ft high section. Phone Bill (01845 597 679) to join in the fun.
(b) 6/7 August found Brian Hartley & colleagues guiding 21 students through a training course, completed inspite of quite adverse weather conditions on the Saturday. Also noted was a splendid BBQ organised by Elaine & Charlie on the Saturday evening. (c) September 3 saw the completion of work for ROSA. 11 members plus 3 ROSA representatives, including Dave Griffiths, were on site to mark the occasion. The project for the Branch began in 2008 & since then almost
400 m of wall have been built, including a seat, stile & assorted cheek ends. What next?
7.3 Shipden Phase II – David had three visits to report, at one of which we had the company of Michael Booth from the Yorkshire Guild. The project draws to a close, with only the sloping limestone section to complete. Next visits –

17 th September, 1 st October. The work will be over by the end of the year & David invites any member who has yet to lay a stone at Shibden to come along & make this a truly Branch-wide project. As a final final project for the site David has started discussions with Calderdale regarding the possibility of erecting a corbelled roofed shepherd’s hut.
7.4 The Thursday Group are now back at Lineham Farm.
7.5 Brimham Rocks Open Weekend – 13/14 August – Wendy reported a successful event, 6 members walling, publicising & running the children’s walls on the Saturday & 10 on the Sunday. 3 visitors have since booked on a training course. Would expect to go back if event held again.
7.6 North Wales weekend – 19/21 August – Joanne reported on this very successful first for us, 6 members tackling a goodly length of boundary wall, part retaining, in something which to their un-practiced eyes seemed pretty similar to slate. The guest-house owners were delighted with our efforts – the payment for their hospitality - & Sean
Adcock did note that we were the first Branch he had worked with who knew how to wind their lines properly! Repeat visits are on the cards.
7.7 Australia sub-branch –our chairman down-under, John Cox, through Martyn, reported a meet in his garden, located in the back of beyond, during which 6 members/associates (not sure of their status re-DSWA membership & insurance cover!) worked on a retaining wall in rough granite, consumed pizzas & were “subjected” to the work of Nigel,
Simon & John at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, courtesy of a recording by the Australian Broadcasting commission. John will be with us next May/June when we might expect an update on the spread of the O&YD Branch in the colonies.
(8) Short-term programme:
10 September
19 September
24/25 September
1 st October
Branch competition & BBQ, Lineham Farm. Be there by 9.00, ready for 9.30 start. Still time to enter. Please let Steph know if you will be BBQing – this will start around 3.30pm.
16/30 September Brimham Rocks
Leyburn Group - Culvert & cobbled ford – Coverdale. Contact JH if you want to join in.
Training Course, Chevin. 16 students so far. Able to help? – Please let JMcL know.
Leyburn - Practice day & Skills workshop – contact Wendy for the workshop list.
8/9 October Certification Weekend- any intention MUST be registered immediately!
11 October Countryside Day, Harrogate. Indoors. Aimed at school leavers. Sign up with JMcL.
15 October Skills workshop – Chevin. Wendy could do with more numbers. Please let her know.
18 October Leyburn – Quarterly meeting. Speaker - Dr Helen Bainbridge from the Swaledale Museum.
22 – 30 October Autumn Glory Days at Harewood House. Mainly for children, with a demo wall.
Most Thursdays Practice day – back at Lineham, for time being.
(9) National Trust Weekend, 22/23 October – Martyn noted a potential full & challenging weekend back at the gully site near Kettlewell. This will also require some earlier preparation days on 12/13 October. Will anyone interested in taking part please let Martyn know. At the time of writing there is still one bed available in the Barn for the weekend, plenty for the midweek session. Any number of “day trippers” welcome. Joining details will be circulated prior to the event.
(10) Potential Roundhay Park project – JMcL reported receiving a letter from Jon Volger of the Friends of Roundhay
Park in which we are invited to do some walling for them. JMcL & Bill Davis will follow-up on this.
(11) A.O.B.
11.1 John Hulbert commented on the “Facebook” site, giving a brief explanation of how the page he has set up for Otley DSWA works. He encouraged us to visit the site.
11.2 Sarah Clowes requested volunteers to wall at her house on 17 September, 9.30 start, carrying on with work started two years ago.
The formal meeting was followed by wonderful presentation on the Mulu Caves of Sarawac by Matt Kirby, a serial explorer
& discoverer of caves. We now know that our local caves are pretty puny things, that rock formations come, not only in limestone but in most beautiful gypsum structures, of coral like appearance & those of a nervous disposition as far as wild creatures are concerned should probably avoid getting themselves into the situations Matt described. Here was a person who really had been where no human has stepped before! A truly enlightening evening! Many thanks, Matt.
Next meeting: Tuesday 4 th October. Annual General Meeting, followed by a talk from Stuart Powell on Drystone Walling in the South of England.
Future speakers will include: November – Harry Turner & Keith Chapman talking about the RHS exhibition at Hampton
Court, December will be Gordon Wilson telling us about his “Life in Walling” whilst January will bring us Messrs Beasley &
Hulbert who will be describing the “Wandering wall of Burn Bridge”.
Reminder: If you have not given your email address to Martyn Smith (or have recently changed it) please contact him at martyn.h-smith@tiscali.co.uk
. E-mail helps the branch to reduce the cost of sending out minutes, etc.