Once again Shibden Valley Society committee members and residents tackled the footpath known locally as Millie’s Meadow. This time we had some serious help in the form of a mini digger. We hope all our hard work done of over the past few months ensures the footpath remains in good condition for all to walk.
The work extended over a fair stretch of the footpath and the drainage channels have left some ‘scars’ alongside
The ‘scars’ should soon be covered in new grass to blend in with the rest of the pasture
Both cart tracks fully exposed
So over a number of working days, the team, committee and residents have cut back vegetation, cleared grass sods from the footpath, cleared vegetation from a bench, moved a large stone to stop a puddle forming in front. Lifted and moved large stones to make the path easier to walk and finally brought in a mini digger to dig channels to drain the footpath
Shibden Valley Society members and committee would like to thank, our member, Tom Rawnsley for his help with the finishing stages of restoring and improving the footpath. Having a mini digger made light work for all of us.
Many thanks Tom from all of us
Stage two of our work on Millie’s Meadow. More volunteers turned up to help us widen the path by removing grass which had encroached the footpath, whilst the committee had the very hard work of resolving some of the drainage issues.
We had the company of cows for the day but were never bothered by them
Gradually widening the path. A great job done by our volunteers
Below Brian and Richard starting work on the drain off gully in one of the more muddy sections.
Denise hard at work helping with the mud!
Brian, Richard and Denise all hard at work. Pretty Muddy work!
Our next visit on 19 April was a much more organised working party and we were lucky to have some Shibden Valley Society members along to assist with the work.
Great before and after photos.
Vegetation now gone!
Here you can see some of the volunteers hard at work cutting back the vegetation and also grass sods from the stone path to gratually widen it
We have been working on this footpath which needed some drainage work. David Witcher had asked the committee to look at the path before lockdown but weren't able to do any work due to the pandemic.
Below are some of the images of the footpath and you can clearly see the problem. We hoped to be able to resolve some of these muddy areas. Committee walked the footpath to decide on a plan of action and managed to do a little work whilst on site.
Below you can see Brian and Fred cutting a drain off gully to try and remove excess water
Some of the committee moving two large blocks of stone to the front of the bench where a large puddle forms
On Wednesday 16 October, four members of the committee met on a beautiful sunny afternoon to carry out some more maintenance work in the valley.
Once again, we tackled the level footpath running from Horley Green Lane towards Shibden Fold. This is a popular route that was again suffering from overhanging bushes and water flowing over the path. A good hour’s work saw the bushes cut back and the drainage channel widened and deepened to prevent it from over-topping. Hopefully it will be several months before we have to do this again
Here you can see the footpath before the work was completed
An easy path to follow now the work is done
We then moved onto the footpath from Shibden Fold down to Shibden Brook, across the stone bridge and up to Staups Lane. The path has a stream alongside which is higher than the path in places causing it to overflow onto the path when it blocks with leaves etc. Two hours of hard work saw masses of vegetation cut back and lots of debris and ‘dams’ removed from the stream to ease the flow into the brook. We also unearthed several large, flat boulders which we moved onto a muddy section to act as stepping-stones before the bridge.
Although not all the problems with water were cured, we hope to revisit in future to place some hardcore on the worst sections.
As a final job we tackled the huge amount of debris that had built up against the support of the stone footbridge. There were large branches, large plastic sheets, a tarpaulin, a large stuffed sofa cushion and a huge burnt log, all jammed into one side causing the stream to back up.
As a final job we tackled the huge amount of debris that had built up against the support of the stone footbridge. There were large branches, large plastic sheets, a tarpaulin, a large stuffed sofa cushion and a huge burnt log, all jammed into one side causing the stream to back up.
After about an hour of wading, winching and cutting (and a few wet wellies!) the brook was back to normal levels. We were so focussed on the job that we forgot to take before and after shots but I’m sure residents who use the bridge regularly will see the difference.
This was four hours of heavy work for just four people, so if there are any members who can help next time, please look out for Working Party notifications on Facebook or email. We look forward to seeing you on the next Working Party.
Here is the team who did the work