A tight squeeze

Ashley, Grant and Rachel made their way to St Matthew's Church to help out David with some routine maintenance in the garden of rest. Tonight, the group were up at the top of the garden of rest nearest to the church and were trimming back some of the plants to keep the pathway clear as it was becoming a tight squeeze. Bees were lovingly rehomed to another section of lavender as this was trimmed back. David was pleased to have help from volunteers once again and remarked that the task was a good one in terms of seeing immediate results and a noticeable improvement.

The group were treated to the chance to climb the clock tower at the end of the task...up several short flights over a combination of various wood and stone staircases including a narrow spiral staircase and a ladder to take the group to the top. The group got to witness David winding the clock and see the working mechanism which has been in place for over 150 years. The clock tower has many initial engravings from people involved in repairs or who were on duty at the tower as a lookout post during the second world world. There were lots of memorial slates at the entrance to the clock tower with many unfortunately remembering young lives, some as young as 1 month. These were children from workers at the mill and the slates were mostly paid for by the mill for workers. The group were informed the slate was top quality Welsh slate and most of it looked like it had just been engraved and laid recently but was actually from the early 1800s. From the top of the tower the group could see local landmarks like the velodrome and the boundary of what was once a working farm opposite the church - which is why there was no clock face installed on that side of the tower, as it was primarily for mill workers to see the time.

David is sending over some new dates for the group to return and help with gardening maintenance so keep an eye out for those and get signed up.