Observations about meetings

I have, in the course of my remunerated working life, been required to attend and sometimes run meetings. I have several observations about meetings, although each committee or meeting had its own peculiarities.

1. For many years I was on a committee to do with my professional association.  These meetings usually began with a re-run of the last meeting. At least half of the people didn't remember to bring their copy of the minutes, so the amount of time devoted to previous minutes would usually last the greater part of the meeting, as the chair then felt it necessary to read out the minutes. There was usually at least one member of this committee who was misinformed or plain ignorant, and it was usually this person dominated the conversation. This combination of circumstances meant that the most important business, which was to discuss policy and take a stance, or arrange future events, did not have sufficient time devoted to it.

2. The second kind of meeting was when I was working for an organisation that was run by a bullying autocrat. He professed to encourage discussion and seek opinion, but people soon learnt that to do so was a risky strategy, as he had his ways of punishing anyone who voiced a different opinion to the one he wanted to hear. So eventually this committee became, he told, we listened and nodded.

3. Another kind of meeting occurred in academia. Here, most people had opinions, liked to expound them at great length, but were incapable of making any kind of decisions.  When the chairperson finally did it for these people, he or she was then accused of being undemocratic.

So what does this all have to do with volunteering for the Countryside Service? Only that I have learnt about yet another kind of meeting. When I turned up for work this week, I had a chat with the team, but they were about to have their monthly meeting with some of the higher ups. I related my experience of meetings, but was told that they had yet another kind of meeting, which they termed, "We ask for something, it is refused".  I can't imagine this will change when the county as a whole is to undergo 23% cuts under the spending review. This county has been lucky to have had the same complexion of local government for over 20 years, so there has been an opportunity to bed down some really good work. But the local government changed at the last election, and it now seems that the new lot are trying to unravel this good work as fast as they can.

But in contravention of this rule, Mr Head Ranger did take possession of a new land rover a couple of weeks ago. He was uncertain how he felt about this, as he rather liked the old one, had got used to its quirks and idiosyncracies.  I think his dog, a very appealing collie, liked it too. She is a beautiful animal and accompanies him everywhere. In the office, she sits patiently until we are ready to leave, looking at Mr Head Ranger with adoring eyes. Sometimes she trots to the door to see who is passing by. She has her own special seat in the land rover, which is just behind the driver's seat. She keeps an eye on Mr Head Ranger's driving, and licks his ear regularly, with approval.

So work for volunteers is suspended now for a couple of weeks. My supervisor says that they will be spending time doing building checks and other maintenance tasks. This is a pity, as I am so enjoying both the work and the company of a great bunch of people.

A continued lull

I was asked not to come in this week. Mr Head Ranger was in the office on his own, as everyone else was either ill or taking leave.  Apparently when the team are on call out, they get time off in lieu, rather than overtime, which means that everyone accrues leave that must be taken or lost. So you end up with an undersupply of hands. I keep telling Mr. Ranger that I have superb office skills, but he feels that he would have to spend too much time explaining things for me to be of use.  And anyway, he is right, I didn't do this to spend the time doing what I have done most of my life.

I sent the photo of the mangled bird I found last week to my colleagues. It has been identified as a Canada goose, about a year old. There are a few geese left on our reservoir after the majority have departed for the winter. Occasionally the nearby farmer shoots them (I can't think why - what about all that free guano?) so my bird might have been injured.  I was surprised it turned out to be a goose, as the rib-cage looked too small. Well maybe it was bigger before it was eaten. Various mammals/birds could have been responsible - as well as crows, ravens, gulls, we apparently have mink and badger as well as dogs around here.

Next week will probably be the last before Christmas, but we are forecast more snow and cold weather, so we shall see... 

Work suspended

There is not much to report this week, as my services were not needed due to the snow.  The team is on callout. As I explained in my last post, they lend a helping hand to people who are stranded. The female member of the team had to go to Bakewell for 6.30 am (about half an hour's drive) to pick up and deliver a carer who looks after a wheelchair bound woman, in that condition  for 20 years. She can only operate her wheelchair by means of a mouth controlled lever, so obviously is reliant on her helper. I cannot imagine living in that state for that long, I am sure I would want to top myself.

But we had our Christmas lunch at a local hostellry. A very jolly affair, I like the team, they are an interesting bunch of individuals. 

One of the results of doing this work, is that I have got a lot more interested in wildlife in general, and have been doing a bit of exploratory work on the web to see what the team are involved with, (other than felling trees). There are a lot of reports and publications which describe the different projects that are going on, all really good stuff about preserving wildlife habitats, protecting and reintroducing species.  Overall, the work is very worthwhile and valuable, yet you can see in the greater scheme of things that it is low down on the list of priorities for funding.  I can imagine a bunch of councillors who never go out in the countryside dismissing the expenditure as a waste. The environment is always low priority, look what happened at Copenhagen and looks like happening at Cancun. And yet we ignore biodiversity at our peril. Understandably the team have some concerns about how the budget cuts will affect their service.

When my father died 18 months ago, I decided to plant a tree in his memory. I did this through the Woodland Trust, of which I am a member. As a result, I get emails about what they do. They have recently made available a new website, which catalogues all the woodlands in a specific area. It's a nice website, you can put in your own views about different woodlands. It is at Visitwoods.org.uk.


Finally this week, I was walking around our nearby lake and came across this rather gruesome spectacle. I don't know what kind of bird it was, possibly an owl, but I guess it was an example of the cruelty of nature. I suspect it was a sick or injured bird that got savaged by a dog. The path is popular with dog walkers.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8807425@N02/5248997500/in/photostream/

A snowy landscape

I am having a week off this week to take my mother on a Christmas trip to Lille and Bruges.  Which is just as well considering the wintry conditions outside.

What does the countryside service do when the weather is bad? There is always a lot of paperwork to catch up on. Any information notices that you come across in the amenity woodlands has been created by the countryside people. But if the snow persists, the lads and their landrovers are dispatched to reach outlying properties, to ferry health workers, and other essential services to where people are stranded. This means that they get behind with their proper work, so the tree thinning we did last week was finishing off a job they abandoned during last winter's bad weather.

I took hubby out at the weekend to show him some of the work I have been involved in.  We had a stroll through the extent of this woodland. It was more extensive than I knew, and has open spaces as well as a reed bed and other wetland habitat. The pond was frozen solid, except for a very small area close to the opposite bank.  A dog ran out on the ice, but it didn't break. It's a hard time for those water creatures.

Week 5 - Tree Felling, November 2010

My primary motivation for starting this blog is pure self interest. I recently started working, one day per week, as a volunteer for the countryside service. This is so different from the work I was, until last year, paid to do, that I wanted to record my thoughts as I go along. I started this on Facebook, but I thought this might be a better way of being able to write in detail about my experiences.

The countryside service manages the nature conservation areas around where I live, which include and old railway line that runs along the back of our house, an area that used to be a sewage works which was planted with trees about 15 years ago, a quarry that now has a caravan park in it, and other areas in the High Peak I have not yet visited. The service co-operates with other bodies involved in similar activities, like the National Trust and  the Environment Agency.

The autumn is the time when the summer growth on the trees is pruned and plantations thinned. This happens, I am told, on a 7 year cycle. Initially trees are planted close together so that they give each other protection. As they get bigger, they are thinned, until ultimately in 100 years or so, you have tall, sturdy trees which support a mixed habitat for birds, insects and other small animals.

This week we were at the site of the former sewage farm.  It is now an area of trees, with open spaces between and several footpaths running through it, a large, long strip of land bound by a river on one side, and the Manchester - Sheffield railway line on the other. The day's task was to thin out some of the trees near one of the footpaths. Today, there were two chainsaws in operation, a heavy duty strimmer to clear brambles and brush, and myself and one other member of staff who were to tidy up the felled tree branches and act as lookout for approaching people.  My task was largely the latter, and I was thankful that it wasn't that cold, as it is a lot of standing about doing not a lot.  I prefer to get stuck in!

But I got my chance in the afternoon, when I received instruction in hedge-laying.  Most of the trees to be felled were down, we were just tidying up.  One way is to feed everything into a chipper machine, which we used in previous weeks, but it was only on hire for three weeks and had to go back. So this time we created log piles, brush piles, and then made brush "fences". That's where the hedge-laying techniques come in. You fell some thin trees in a line, but leaving a slim bit of bark attached to the trunk. You make sure they are all pointing in the same direction. Then you cut the branches three quarters through to provide new growth points, and weave them into a tidy line, using stakes to hold it all together. Left over stuff is just stuffed in, but again, making sure it is all lined up in the right direction. New growth in the spring then binds it all together, making a lovely habitat for all the woodland creatures.

One thing I am very impressed with is the way that the rangers and wardens involve you and tell you what is going on. They have a strong ethos that volunteers should learn and understand why things are done in the way that they are done. Whether this is just a local thing, or is overall policy, I don't know.  I am enjoying myself immensely.