Early in January two of our team spent some time repairing a loose gate post, repairing fencing and clearing the path from the village to the church in Milwich.
New post alongside Fradswell Lane
Our first formal session took place on Sunday 8th February when Malcolm, Peter, Richard and Paul spent time repairing and replacing oak finger posts. A winter survey showed that there were 10 finger posts in need of installation or replacement in Milwich and Fradswell parishes. These are good jobs for the winter as they are all alongside a road or lane. Clearly, most of the fields are inaccessible to us at this time of year.
On a cold frosty but bright morning we started in Fradswell by installing a new finger post alongside the Fradswell to Gayton road. We then moved to a more remote lane where we needed to replace the finger post on the path leading to the Round House. This one was in an extremely wet area and as we dug, the hole filled up with water to about 4 inches below the surface. We needed to find rubble and stones to fill the hole in order to get some stability to the post. Finally in Fradswell we replaced a broken finger post opposite to the entrance to Red Barn Farm.
New finger post on Butterhill Lane
After a warming cup of coffee we drove back to Milwich and up to Butterhill Lane in Dayhills to replace a finger post opposite Woodend Farm. By now the weather had deteriated and it was misty and cold.
The post holding the handrail by the bridge was also rotten so we replaced this at the same time. It was then back to Milwich centre to replace a post by the kissing gate up to the church. Following inspection, it was decided to leave this job as we did not have the ideal post with us for the replacement and anyway The Green Man was now open!
