What am I getting myself into! Read what Dennis Lendrum has been getting up to...
I blame Billy.
He started it.
We got talking about trees.
He told us about Rothbury CAN...
The following week we signed up for our first project with ROWANS - just one of the volunteer groups operating under the Rothbury CAN umbrella. ROWANS are creating corridors for pollinators stretching from Whitton, through the golf course, cemetery, surgery, and hospital. Down to the Haugh and on to the allotments, and Rothbury.
ROWANS is the group which has planted the shelter belt of native trees below the hospital, and the wildflower belt below the cemetery and golf course.
We weren't sure what to expect, but we pitched up one Sunday afternoon armed with spades and trugs and weed baskets.
Our task for the day was to prepare the bank between the cemetery and hospital for native ferns and bluebells. We spent the afternoon digging and weeding. By the end of the afternoon, when we stepped back to admire our handiwork, it felt like someone had been kicking my backside for three hours.
Still, good exercise!
And deeply satisfying.
The other volunteers were a funny bunch. Literally, a funny bunch. We chatted and laughed, took a break for a picnic, stopped for a quick tour to see how the wildflowers were getting on, and clustered around a patch of wild orchids that had found a home.
We discovered a pair of newts, and carefully negotiated a small colony of ground-nesting bees.
Then we cleared up and we all disappeared again. Vanishing into the night.
Over the next few weeks, we kept bumping into fellow volunteers on the High Street or in the Coop. We met up in someone's garden where we lifted and potted up plants for sale - raising funds for next year's trees. And we planned the year ahead over cups of tea and home-made cakes in the late autumn sun.
Our next CAN project was tree-planting.
After 40 days and 40 nights of a dismal January, we found ourselves at Tod's Place near Brinkburn. A group of about ten hardy souls pitched up for what may be the only sunny day in February. To the accompaniment of a buzzard mewing high above, we planted around 900 native trees.
Our tally of 68 trees included six beech and four oaks as well as the usual suspects - rowan, blackthorn, bird cherry and others.
Once again, we arrived home weary and covered in clarts, but it was fun.
Of course, we may never get to see those trees in all their glory, but it was rewarding and felt good for the soul.
Blessed are those who plant trees under whose shade they will never sit.
What's next? ROWANS are planting at the hospital again at the beginning of March.
And the Coquet River Action Group (CRAG) are getting ready for the upcoming otter survey.
Rothbury Rubbish Friends do their monthly litter pick at the Haugh Car Park.
And we still need to check out the Repair Café.
There's plenty going on. Plenty of ways to get stuck in.