The first dig of 2005 was originally meant to be organised by Moose and Maria but a horse-trading session at the end of 2004 meant we did a swap and with a small amount of trepidation I took on the leadership of a Wey and Arun dig. So on the Friday night 16 navvies descended on the sleepy village of Plaistow, set up camp in the five star village hall (showers included!) and hit the local pub where the landlady seemed very surprised to have that much business appear!

The next morning arrived and while Jenny Wilson put the finishing touches on breakfast I wandered round with coffee and tea – always the best way to wake up the troops I find. Onto site and a detailed briefing by Bill Nicholson showed us what the main job for the weekend would be – bricklaying. So while Sal, Nigel and Martin discussed the best way of starting the curved brickwork around the swing bridge end, a few locals started work under the bridge itself and Sleepy Dave and Aileen started to finish off another wall near the pivot. Everyone else set to with the myriad of support tasks that were needed – mortar mixing, clay backfilling, level checks and bridge painting we even found some scrub bashing to keep Moose and Maria happy! By about lunchtime work was well under way and Martin returned to the hall to work on “Navvies”, Rick Ansell taking his place with the “curves and flourishes” brick laying team.

The afternoon continued much as the morning had, Sal had made herself at home under the bridge doing a course of half soldiers and the smallest person on site – Dippy Claire – was dispatched under the land end of the bridge to clear the mud off the pintle. In the end, lose of daylight forced us off site at about 5pm but not after a large amount of bricks had been laid and 3 “small” fires had dealt with all the scrub bashing. Back at the hall and Jenny had cooked up a superb chicken stew with chocolate pudding to follow – I must have worked everyone hard as people could only just summon the energy to head down the pub!

Sunday arrived with that ever-popular alarm clock – “Hurricane” Bob had arrived. Breakfast ensued and a slightly wearier crew headed back to site. The brickies returned to their tasks and instantly started to cry for mortar and everyone else started a backfill concrete pour which involved much cursing at a very obstinate mixer which required a stick to be stuck in the choke to stay running. People started to drift home after lunch as we started to run out of ancillary jobs but the brickies slaved on – Sal was finally allowed out from under the bridge having finished laying the soldiers, Rick and Nigel had got two courses of the curve done, Aileen had laid almost all of her soldier course and Bob, Sleepy Dave and Graham the local had laid another couple of courses on the retaining walls. With light failing we packed up and left site well pleased with the work we had completed over the weekend.

It just remains for me to thank the Wey and Arun Canal Trust for their support over the weekend – we didn’t have to go to Tickners once, everything we needed was on site! Thanks also to Jenny Wilson for agreeing to cook for us – you’re a star as ever. Thanks to everyone else who came down as well – according to the matched funding sheet I have just completed we put 250 hours work into the project over this weekend and the difference we made to the site is easily visible.

Ed Walker