by Cllr Robert MacNaughton
On Friday 1st September the River Warriors group, of which I am a part, resurfaced what we call the muddy path; the track between the Wyvern Avenue end of the Abberd Brook, and the wide open field on the Persimmon estate called Regent Park. A lot of people use that track, and in winter it lives up to its nickname.
David Biddle. Frank Rumble and Fay Gadsby laying the 14 tons of aggregate that we used to resurface the path.
The work was led by Jeremy Percy who drove the digger filling the mechanised wheel barrow which was a true game changer. Taking up to half a ton at a time the mechanised wheel barrow was the only way we could have shifted the aggregate from where it was delivered on Heron Close to the muddy path. Jeremy has done this sort of construction before. I hadn’t.
Here are David Biddle and Fay Gatsby raking and levelling the 14 tons of aggregate that were used in the resurfacing.
And here is the River Warriors group picture at the end of the afternoon session after Jeremy and David had used the whacker plate to make the aggregate much more compact. Linda Biddle is also there. She didn’t stop working all day.
I think this is an astonishing achievement for a small community group. We are lucky in Calne to have so many community groups which knit the town together. We couldn’t have done the work to resurface the muddy path without the help of Tim and Craig at Build Base/Huws Gray along the Oxford Road. The Friends of the Marden Valley and the River Warriors have hired equipment before from them and Craig, in the hire office, always looks after us very well. Tim in the main office gave us a good price for the MOT Type 1 aggregate which helps stretch the money we get from grants to complete the resurfacing. We are all volunteers getting funding from Calne Town Council, GreenSquareAccord and Selwood Housing. We do a lot of work in the back ground to make sure we have enough money to fund our projects, as do all the community groups in the Town.
Craig Ciddelapaz, myself, Fay and Tim Parker
We can’t work without food and I went to get egg baps from Doug's Diner on Stanier Road. The business has been going for 29 years. Started by Doug and Rachel Pope, Doug unfortunately died 15 years ago, and Rachel has been working with Dan (I don’t know his surname) since then, 6 days a week.
Dan, myself and Rachel Pope
Their major problem is that they don’t have a card machine, and so can’t take cards. This is having a detrimental effect on their business. To get a card machine you have to have a business account. To get a business account you have proof of paying utility bills. Rachel doesn’t pay utility bills. So the bank is being unhelpful. Is there an easier answer to this problem?
Ali, our new Town Clerk, ran 135 miles over a three day period to complete the Ring O’ Fire ultra marathon on the island of Anglesey 10 days ago. Out of 76 starters only 39 finished of whom 11 were women. Ali called it ‘a great achievement’ and then quite sensibly she said ‘never again’. It was her third attempt. On the second day of the competition she ran for 17 hours! It was difficult to react to that when she told me. I just smiled thinking other things.
Ali, our new Town Clerk, with her Ring O’Fire race medal.
What links these stories together, is the Island of Anglesey. Ali has just raced around it. Huws Gray/ Build Base who provided us with the kit and aggregate, has its headquarters on the Island of Anglesey!
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