Project News
Here you will find all of the latest news from the Traditional Boundaries, Traditional Skills Project. If you want to know more about the background to our project, click here.
Here are our 2009-10 trainees
On the 30th of November we welcomed our 2009-10 intake of TBTS trainees. This photograph, shows our Rothbury and Haltwhistle teams in some welcome spring weather at the National Park's Visitors Centre at Once Brewed on the 29th of March.
Left to right. Nick Coward, Neil Anderson, Steve Falcus, Eve Leadley, Leigh Philp, Michael Sevilla, Graeme Gown, Alex McKenzie, Scott Iley, Cara Saville
TBTS trainees in an ATV 'convoy' during training at Brromhouse Farm Witton Gilbert
in Co. Durham
ATV line up at Broomhouse farm during training. L to R: Cara saville, Eve Leadley, Ed Todd trainer, Leigh Philp,Scott Iley and Alex McKenzie
Severe weather - January 2010
The worst winter for 30 years certainly tested our 2010 trainees. The record lowest temperature that one of our teams experienced was -17 degrees centigrade. By switching to workshop based activities we were able to keep our training going on the worst days but our trainers and their trainees certainly deserve credit for walling/hedging and fencing in some very severe conditions
This is the view out of our Haltwhistle team's Land Rover one morning in February as they drove through the forest north of Hadrian's Wall on their way to repair some walls at East Stonefolds Farm
The northern team also had found already in January that conditions could be challenging, the sign points the way to Lordenshaws but little chance of getting there!
Dunstanburgh Castle - February 2010
The project has worked with the National Trust at Dunstanburgh Castle for the past three years on a boulder wall that provides a great learning opportunity for TBTS Rothbury trainees. Here are some shots from some particularly bleak and cold days in January and February this year.
Scott Iley and Leigh Philp are just above the foundation level here in January
It's now February the snow has gone and the mud is here, Scott Iley and Cara Saville have that satisfaction of seeing the wall go up despite the poor conditions
East Stonefolds
It was also a little wet at East Stonefolds in February where the Haltwhistle team were repairing the walls
Hedging at Bingfield
Steve Falcus and Nic Coward at work together on the hedge at honeybrook in some welcome sunshine!
Alex MacKenzie using the hand axe to cut through some of this very old hedge. Later in the hedging season we will be working again at Honeybrook to plant up the gaps in this hedge and hopefully put some life back into it for the future
Bingfield
Another Joint project where both TBTS teams worked together was at Bingfield. We had an opportunity to lay a much younger hedge following on from a very useful bit of hedging training carried out on the site last year.
The big pile of brash on the left shows the severe 'haircut' the teams have given the hedge
The site at Bingfield. An elevated site with some fine views to the north. In Early March we had some welcome bright days which helped with progress, here Scott Iley and Alex MacKenzine get on with the hedge
‘Week in the Forest’ course - March 2010
In late March all TBTS teams took advantage of an excellent training course run by Northwoods, a not for profit woodland initiative based in Morpeth, which covered the full range of forestry work in the region from growing trees in the nursery through to harvesting and woodland products. TBTS staff and trainees found the course very enjoyable and gave our trainees food for thought from a career point of view.
A sea of fluorescent waistcoats as attendees at the ‘Week in the Forest’ course see how ground preparation and tree planting is done in Hamsterley Forest in Co. Durham on the 22nd of Match 2010
Sycamore Gap stell rebuild
At Sycamore Gap on the Roman Wall, a location made famous by Kevin Costner in ‘Robin Hood Prince of Thieves’ the Haltwhistle team took on the task of rebuilding the small stell in which a small replacement sycamore had been planted, unfortunately the tree had suffered the attentions of the local sheep who gained access through the broken down walls of the stell, hopefully now they will have a little more difficulty in mounting such attacks and the sapling will thrive.
Work in progress from the crag above
The completed stell
The completed stell with the Haltwhistle team. L to R: Neil Anderson, Nick Coward, Graeme Gown, Michael Sevilla, Steve Falcus
Ingram footpath construction - April 2010
In preparation for a week-long visit by the Percy Hedley School in May, the Rothbury ranger team instructed TBTS trainees in the construction of a new access footpath at the TBTS walling training site to allow access by wheelchairs.
Scott Iley using a vibratory tamper to consolidate the footpath
The completed footpath
Join TBTS and see wildlife - May 2010
On a sunny day in May one of our TBTS Land Rovers broke down near Longframlington whilst we were waiting for the breakdown truck one of our trainees saw what they thought was a stick move, it turned out to be an adder sunning itself in the grass on the roadside verge.
Close up of the adder
100% success for 2010 trainees at their first dry stone walling exam
On the 26th of May, nine of our 2010 TBTS trainees passed the Dry Stone Walling association/Lantra Initial examination with very high scores well above the 50% pass mark.
The examiner Steve Bostock said these were some of the highest marks he'd seen at an Initial exam.
Our tenth trainee, Graeme Gown, already has the Initial Certificate but he will be joining the rest of the trainees when they all take the more challenging Intermediate examination in October. Well done to all our trainees and to their trainers David and Stephen for helping them develop to the right skill level.
Pictured at the Walltown test site are (left to right) Cara Saville, Eve Leadley, Leigh Philp, Scott Iley, Alex MacKenzie, Nick Coward, Steve Falcus, Michael Sevilla, Neil Anderson and DSWA examiner -Steve Bostock
TBTS attends the County Show at Corbridge
The TBTS Haltwhistle team along with a reported 26,000 other people attended their 5th County Show at Corbridge on the 31st of May. The show was blessed with a fine sunny day.
Here we see the team before the rigours of the day. L to R – Nick Coward, Michael Sevilla, Neil Anderson, Steve Falcus and Graeme Gown
Dry stone walling at Burradon near Thropton
Our TBTS Rothbury team have started work on a new site at Burradon near Thropton in Coquetdale below are couple of shots of the work in progress.
In the shade of the wood on a hot day Leigh Philp and Alex McKenzie get on with rebuilding a wall
Cara Saville however has no shade out in the adjacent field where sunglasses and sun cream are a must!
Here’s something the team did earlier – here we’ve joined together a number of shots to show a length of wall in the field the team has already completed
TBTS visits ‘Fix the Fells’ July 2010
TBTS paid its now annual visit to the ‘Fix the Fells’ project in the lake district in July working with the project’s footpath construction team on two locations Stake Pass and Stickle Ghyll. The TBTS teams swapped locations during the week so they could gain experience of building a zig zag path at Stake pass and some stone pitching in the steep sided Stickle Ghyll.
Stake Pass - The pictures show members of the Haltwhistle team when they were working on creating a new path that zig zags up the hillside on the Stake Pass. The original packhorse route that connects Langdale with Stonethwaite Fell is being reinstated. This route can be traced back to at least 1819, when it was described as being in very bad condition, so footpath erosion is not just a new problem. It is believed to have been in use for hundreds of years before that date.
Before you start work you’ve got to get there! Here we see Nick, Neil and David walking up Langdale towards Langdale Combe
Here we see Neil Anderson moving soil with a member of the ‘Fix the Fells’ team. In the background is David Tasseel (the Haltwhistle Rural Skills Trainer) on the right and Steve Falcus digging on the left
Nick Coward deep in the sticky soil that will eventually become one of the zig zag embankments
Stickle Ghyll – This was a very steep sided location where, as in previous years at the site TBTS teams were involved in the creation of a stone pitched footpath made from stone flown in by helicopter.
Members of both Rothbury and Haltwhistle TBTS working on the footpath beside the tarn near the top of Stickle Ghyll
Now what do we do with this?
Wagtail Farm Nr. Rothbury - August 2010
Work continues at Wagtail where we are coming to the end of the current work programme on the site.
Scott Iley in the process of rebuilding a wall corner
Visit by Sir Timothy Sainsbury and Lady Susan Sainsbury
TBTS was delighted to host a visit from Sir Timothy and Lady Sainsbury on Friday, August 12, on a farm at Lonbrough in a remote location near Wark Forest in the North Tyne valley.
Sir Timothy and his wife are trustees of the Headley Trust which has generously supported the TBTS project to the tune of £45,000/year in 2009 and 2010. Their support came at a crucial time when there was a significant gap in TBTS funding so we are very grateful for their timely support.
At the farm, where the Haltwhistle team were repairing a farm wall, Sir Timothy and Lady Susan met current 2010 trainees and Peter Weir a self employed dry stone waller who had been a trainee with TBTS in 2006.
Lady Susan and Timothy Sainsbury talking to members of the 2010 TBTS Haltwhistle team at Lonbrough. Left to Right: Lady Susan Sainsbury, Sir timothy Sainsbury, David Tasseel TBTS Rural Skills Trainer for the Haltwhistle team, TBTS team members - Steve Falcus, In rear hidden, Graeme Gown, in foreground Nick Coward
Lady Susan Sainsbury and Sir Timothy discuss the challenges of dry stone walling with Peter Weir a self employed waling contractor who was himself a trainee with TBTS in the project’s first year in 2006
TBTS attends the International Dry Stone Walling Congress in Ambleside - September 2010
In early September four TBTS staff Eve Leadley, Cara Saville, Stephen Green and Kevin Malone took the opportunity of attending the bi-annual International Dry Stone Walling Congress which this year was hosted by the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain at the Ambleside campus of the University of Cumbria.
The Congress was organised by the DSWA on behalf of The Societe Scientifique Internationale pour l'etude pluridisciplinaire de la Pierre Seche which translates as –‘International Society for the Scientific Study of multidisciplinary Dry Stone’.
One our party, Eve Leadley, is no stranger to the Ambleside campus as she was a student at the site under its former name of St Martin’s College where she achieved a BSC in Outdoor Studies.
We certainly had an intensive three days with many lectures and presentations concerning dry stone walling across the world and very inspiring it was!
As part of the congress programme we had a number of field visits looking at dry stone structures, here we see a party from the congress hearing about the history of dry stone field lime kilns, these crude structures were used for very localised lime burning.
Tipalt Burn Access Project
This project is led by the ‘Living on The Edge’ community group and supported by the National park and the Forestry Commission.
The project involves the creation of a permissive path that will allow walkers to take a circular route featuring the Tipalt Burn starting and finishing at the 14th century Thirlwall Castle.
Both TBTS teams came together to work on this community project employing a variety of countryside skills including bridge and boardwalk construction, dry stone walling and fencing.
Members of both TBTS teams working on a bridge on the Tipault Burn permissive footpath
Training session for Upland Farming Traineeship trainees with the Haltwhistle TBTS team
As well as TBTS the National Park operates a second skills training programme called the Upland Farming Traineeship (UFT) for people who wish to develop upland farming skills.
Eight trainees work across 12 farms in the north and south of the National Park gaining practical experience of farming and in the process through partners Northumberland College completing a work based diploma in livestock management.
As part of the UFT trainee’s practical training the TBTS Haltwhistle team laid on a training session at yet another remote location north of the Roman Wall near Wark Forest, East Stonefolds.
Walling in progress at East Stonefolds, UFT trainees Left to Right: Ryan James, Will Watson-Laney, Joe Barrass and Jonathan Morris
TBTS and UFT team members and their completed wall. Left to Right: Nick Coward, Graeme Gown, Will Watson-Laney, Joe Barrass, Jonathan Morris, Neil Anderson and Ryan James
TBTS trainees are 100% successful in their final exam at Walltown
TBTS trainees and two external candidates sat their exams on Wednesday, October 27. All candidates passed their examinations and examiners noted that they had achieved very high marks demonstrating their ability to build dry stone walls of a professional quality.
With the project coming to an end in November this brings to an end the ten exam sessions the project has held over the five years.
Pictured Left to Right are:- Stephen Bostock and Stephen Harrison Examiners. Leigh Philp TBTS, Nick Coward TBTS, Martin Haggerty, external candidate, Steve Falcus TBTS, Scott Iley TBTS, Neil Anderson TBTS, Graeme Gown TBTS, Cara Saville TBTS, Eve Leadley TBTS and Jeremy Smith external candidate.
Footpath construction - Simonside, Rothbury
With only two weeks to go before the project comes to an end our TBTS trainees are still hard at it, this time working on the construction of a new footpath at a location called ‘Bob Pyle’s Studdie’. Bob Pyle was a local Rothbury blacksmith and a ‘studdie’ is a blacksmith’s anvil.
The footpath materials have been kindly funded by the HF Holidays Pathways Fund. HF Holidays are a walking holiday company whose members make donations to fund the repair of footpaths subject to erosion by walkers.
The latest section of new footpath is 55 metres long and is being constructed from 40 tonnes of sandstone flown in by helicopter.
The continuing project to correct erosion by walkers on the Simonside ridge footpath has been carried out by the National Park for the past ten years, TBTS trainees have benefitted from the opportunity, on a number of occasions, to practice this important landscape management skill.