The path of most resistance

We've been regulars at the Petersham and Ham Sea Scouts of late, helping them to make various improvements to the grounds to allow for ever more activities for the kids that attend their sessions. A few weeks back we were hauling aggregate to raise the height of the path behind the new building (achieving more levelling up in 3 sessions than the government in 3 years), and now it was time to mix and pour concrete to create a flat surface over the top, to prepare it for its future guise as a rifle range.

The weather behaved itself and it was a balmy evening as 9 of us arrived by foot and by bike to lend our hands, arms and backs. Ken and Chris led the efforts on mixing concrete with the support of Jack and JP, while Monika and Jenny took on the task of raking the freshly mixed "mushroom soup" over the rocky path and using a spreader to flatten the top. Various others including Salwa, Sam and Anita lugged bags of ballast and cement to the mixing station before joining in the other efforts, Anita pushing a dodgy wheelbarrow with a burst tyre before moving on to general maintenance of anything growing in the vicinity.

Mixing concrete turned out to be quite an art, as Ken and Scout leader Jules oversaw the proportions of ballast, cement and water being loaded into the mixer with spades and buckets, jabbing at the mixture with a piece of 2x4 to get it properly mixed. Chris had also done this before and helped us identify the right slooshing noise to know when the mixture was the right consistency. All of this was made a little more difficult by dodgy electrics, as the mixer kept shutting down for no apparent reason, only to come back to life when least expected.

Several barrows were heaved up the path (not the one of least resistance, that's for sure) to the far end where they were slopped into place to be spread by the spreading team (insert super spreader / Omicron joke here). The path started to take shape, but it will definitely need a few more sessions before the job is done - there was alot left to cover when it was time for us to call it a night. A quick sloshing of the mixer and group photograph and we were off on our merry way, happy to have done a little more good.