Leaf collecting

The excellent efforts of the second working party of the week saw the North Lawn virtually cleared of leaves in two hours of hard but enjoyable work.

Seven hardy souls assembled on a very cold but sunny morning and made short work of the fallen beech, oak and sycamore (damp,large and with nasty black spots) leaves.

The pile of collected leaves increased to around 7.5 million and at half time the gingerbread men, plus whisky, coffee and tea, together with an open fire in the Old Kitchen fortified everyone admirably.

The quality of the grass on the lawn, for theatre audiences and performers alike, next summer will benefit greatly from the work of this week's 20 volunteers, organised and led by Sue Lowe and Julian Wilde.

A further two mornings are planned for the spring and in the meantime we say thanks very much to all those involved this week.