Monday 29 July 2013

Saturday 27th July 2013 and Work continues on site....

Whilst the razzmatazz of  Broadfest was under way, 8 volunteers kept the show on track  at the Station.
 The block laying on 2B was started, and Clive and Roger were at the front of the queue for placing the first blocks. It was milestone on the project plan to start this activity before the end of the month, so it was personally pleasing to reach this target.






John C Piling up the ballast on Friday

As part of the process of digging out the footings some very suitable ballast was extricated and placed behind platform 2 for levelling.









The  Pea Gravel along the line of the drain.....


On Saturday Jim and Pete K placed  some pea gravel along the line of the drain pipe behind the wall.











Having completed this task Jim and Peter moved on to the task of concreting in the fence posts on the driveway boundary. This part of an initiative to tidy up the driveway approach, giving it a more cared for appearance.

Over in the car park a last attempt was made on the ragwort by Dave B and Keith G. They managed to get a bonfire going to dispose of the removed ragwort. Some kind soul pointed the fire out to a  passing Fire Brigade Unit, who gave us some informal advice about keeping a couple of buckets of water on hand, particularly in the dry weather. All good sense. One of team suggest that a spare bucket of water might also be used to throw on the volunteers to cool them down also. A fair point on such a hot day!







Thanks to everyone who helped this weekend. The following is a potpourri of photos from Friday.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

when I were a lad we were so poor we 'ad pea gravel soup for supper....

Anonymous said...

The safety advice from the Fire Brigade makes sense and I'm suprised that you were not aware of this. When considering a fire precautions should be taken such as having water and beaters available. Then before you leave the site ensure that any unburnt material are removed before the remains of the fire are extinguished. What you don't want is a confligration starting after everybody has gone home and the Broadway Fire Engine being called out to extinguish it and before other people getting their knickers in the twist regarding this post remember it was a member of the public seeing a fire who triggered the observation.

Dave said...

...and nutty slack for breakfast, eh - makes a man of yer ...them were the days!

Anonymous said...

Regarding the post about the advice from the Fire Brigade:

I turn my back on pompous lecturing on message boards...

... because I'm Spartacus!

Anonymous said...

I am Spartacus!

Ken said...

Broadway Fire Engine

I wasn't aware that there was such an entity.

There is a Fire Station at Pebworth and another at Evesham. The latter of which I returned from only an hour or so ago. Neither of which are permanently manned.

Whilst our advisor makes valid points I presume that he/she is unaware that all Volunteers are required to undertake an Induction Course which, whilst including H&S, also includes First Aid and Fire Fighting. Indeed, at Toddington, there is based a GWSR Fire Team, with appliances, which, on 'running days' also provides a First Responder cover (to the general public) for the immediate area.

it was a member of the public seeing a fire who triggered the observation

A kind soul who didn't seek to raise the matter with the Volunteers but, instead, sought to invoke the involvement of the authorities

I'm sure they were really interested.

I know I wouldn't have been!

Jim Boyles said...

Well said, Ken, I totally agree with you and, I do believe that "anonymous advisors" have no place on this blog.

That said, yes, Broadway does has it's own fire station and an engine but, probably like the other stations you named, is only staffed by retained firefighters who drop their day job as soon as their alarm goes off.

We should also remember that our volunteers were controlling a fire on private land. As long as smoke was not drifting over the highway, in such a way as to obscure drivers vision, we have a perfect right to do so. I wonder how many other residents of Broadway have buckets of water on hand - not to mention all the barbeques?

There are many "malcontents" in the village, who have become used to having open access to the area between Evesham Road and Childswickham Lane, since the railway was closed over 35 years ago that they forget (or never knew) that this has always been "railway land". In fact, much of it was used by the station staff as allotments. As such, there never was a right-of-way alongside, but the GWR have granted a "permissive path" in an attempt to appease these locals.

Jim

John of Nuneaton said...

It's great this blog. If you dare to make an observation about a report that is contrary to perceived views your branded a malcontent. But remember if you are seeking peoples opinions than you will get opposite views. Some are helpful others not but this is the country we live in where we still have freedom of expression. Life would be pretty awful if it was taken away and would the BAG have been allowed to exist and return the old railway site back into the use it was designed for.
It's going to be interesting over the next few months if planning permission for the site redevelopment goes ahead or it gets rejected and ends up in a Public Inquiry. Only time will tell.

Jim Boyles said...

Hallo, John of Nuneaton, I welcome your reasoned comments and I, for one, am certainly not against reasoned, clearly thought out, criticism. What I am against however, is carping, petty, comment from "anonymous" persons with no real logic to back up their comments.

I fear you have slightly misconstrued my previous post, so kindly allow me to elucidate:

1) I am resident in Broadway and also a volunteer and am generally aware of "feelings" in the village, regarding the arrival of the railway.

2) There is a minority who are totally adverse to the tourists who throng the High Street during the Summer months, no doubt because it hampers their own activities in the village. However, without the tourist income, Broadway would not survive. We are incredibly lucky with the number of shops, cafe's., etc., that we have here but, without the tourist income, they would simply not be able to sustain their viability. I only have to travel about 6 miles to the beautiful village of Stanton which, apart from the pub has no other amenities. It is "inhabited", or rather, "not inhabited" by people with large sums of money who come to their "second (or, third?) home for the weekend or a vacation. Otherwise, it is a "dead" village, fossilised in time.
3) Broadway, on the other hand, has a thriving econocomy (albeit driven by the tourist trade) and supports many local suppliers: fruit and vegetable merchants, meat suppliers, local craftsmen, etc.
4) All the local shops are really looking forward to the arrival of the railway. More tourism, more trade, more income for all!

Finally, this is why I find petty criticism from the few "anonymous malcontents", as I have named them frustrating and serving no purpose. No properties, (apart from one, between Laverton and here, the owner of which, I know is "anti") actually adjoin the railway, so they will not be inconvenienced by the trains.
No, I believe it to be an hidebound resistance to change (or, should it be re-instatement, of something that was here, probably before the "anti's" moved in?. Perhaps they wish to see another "fossilised" village, whilst they drive to Cheletenham, Stratford or Evesham to do their shopping?

As for the "malcontents", I hope you will now see that I was not necessarily referring to the subscriber who called the fire brigade. They could more accurately be described as a "time-waster": They wasted their own time, our volunteers time and our RETAINED Fire Brigades Time. No, the "malcontents" to which I intended to refer are those who do not like the GWR taking back that which is theirs, merely after a 35 year hiatus!.

With best wishes,

Jim (of Broadway)