St. John's take on LionMouth

Arriving at the centre, we were met with the news that Nathan, LionMouth activity coordinator, had gotten stuck honeymooning in the Lake District and had spent the previous night sleeping under a garage roof. The main task of creating a sheep-fence could end up a disaster with a group of people blundering about in a field. Fortunately Dave came in to help us who, although he didn't know Nathan's exact plans, knew how to put a fence up.


After an introduction, teas and coffees the group chipped in to move all the fence slats from the polytunnels into the top meadow. A combination of trolleys, barrows, buckets and pure strength were employed to move the contents of the polytunnels to the lower garden area.

The group then split, with people spread between strimming the top meadow; digging fence-post holes; weeding the polytunnels and giving the potted plants a little bit of love and attention. The last weed pulled out, it seemed a good time to break for lunch. This also acted as perfect drying-time for the welcome sign that was being created to replace the old broken '...gate farm' tiles hanging on the side. With the sun shining, the majority of the group made the most of the garden tables and had lunch outside.

A kingfisher sat over the River Deerness
 watching as we worked away.

Back to work and some of the group switched duties, potting plants and weeding the front garden instead; LionMouth was a beehive of activity. By the time the end of the day came about a lot of the area had been completely transformed. Paula was saying that she'd never been that far into the top meadow because there was too much bracken and Himalayan Balsam to wade through. The area was prepared for the fence with huge holes dug, posts secured in place and space cleared for its slats. The polytunnels were emptied and there are a lot of plants that will be a lot happier with more space and less weeds. There was even significant progress on producing a lovely sign for the venue.