Teaky Blinders

A bit of drizzle first thing wasn’t enough to put us off our Saturday morning good deed, and the sun was shining for us!

Seven of us met with Ollie (who had been roped in by his Dad, who normally helps run this task!) outside the boathouse along the beautiful riverside in Richmond. Our job today was to clean and sand down the doors, ready for a good oiling. An important job, as being on the riverside, the doors have to battle all of the elements from the rain and sun to high tides and silt.

We split into two groups to take on a sops each - Beth, JP, Rosie and Ollie on one, and Divya, Ishan, Lucy and Sam on the other. First job was sanding down each doors, making sure they were smooth and thus would be able to take in the oil when it came round to it. A good scrubbing (which was a lot of sanding off silt and dirt) and a wipe down with some old rags, we were ready to get the paintbrushes out.

Luckily, the weather was on our side, and as sun had come out, it was dry enough to start the first coat of teak oil. Efficiently and effectively we streaked the doors in teak, and the first layer was compleak. The sun was maybe a bit too out, as it was shining right onto the doors, making it tricky to see, as Sam found out.

The only thing to do was let the oil dry in, and wait it’s second coat - which is planned for Mondays group run. So, in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger… *Oil be back. *