Report by Andy Richardson
Photos by Ed Walker

Present: Martin, Lesley, Matt, Ed, Sal, Marcus, Jenny, Rick, Richard, Bob, Nigel, Tim, Me, John (Saturday only)

Anyone who turned up at Waterloo on Friday evening awaiting the minibus to take them to the dig was to be sorely disappointed (and not to mention stranded). With the minibuses busy being used on the summer camps a convoy of cars descended on Lyneham to deliver the eager volunteers for the weekends dig.

Martin and Sal arrive from Reading with the Traveller full to the brim with supplies for the weekend as well as a few bootfuls of water for Sal. Peter and Nadia had collected the keys from the hall manager for us and were awaiting our arrival.

By 9pm most of the expected people had arrived so with Peter and Nadia in tow we negotiated the long walk across the road to the White Hart. Of the real ales on offer one of the pumps has already been “turned round” so it looked like there was competition to LWRG to drink the pub dry. True to form by the end of the evening we had managed to drink them out of Bombardier but not before they had managed to put back on the 6X. Richard turned up with Rick in tow which was a surprise to our organiser Matt. During the course of the evening the landlord of the White Hart tried to persuade Matt that we should hire out the upstairs of the pub next time with the main selling point being the wardrobe that converts into a bed!!

After last orders it was back into the hall where the sturdier (or more foolish) of us stayed up drinking and chatting in the kitchen into the wee hours.

Saturday morning arrived with Matt preparing breakfast for us all, and managing to use all of the sausages for the weekend in the process. Bob arrived during breakfast much to everybody’s surprise as it was after we had all got up (it turned out he actually slept in – unfortunately this didn’t extend to Sunday morning).

After finishing breakfast and preparing lunch (what no egg sandwiches!!) we headed off on the short drive to Chaddington Lock where we met the local volunteers on site. The work for the weekend involved bricklaying, repointing of the existing brickwork and general site maintenance. Since it was the coping level of the wingwalls and lock chamber that had to be laid the best brickies were set to work. Four others were banished to spend the day beneath the arch bridge cleaning off the excess mortar in preparation for the repointing of the brickwork. The initial cramped location beneath the bridge turned out to be a blessing over the weekend as the temperatures soared and everybody started to suffer. During the day entertainment was provided by an air display over Lydiard Park just north of Wootton Bassett with a fly past later on in the day of a Lancaster bomber with Spitfire escort. Nobody was sure if Rick managed to see this or not as he appeared to be intent on clearing a direct route back to the accommodation with a strimmer. By the end of the day the coping bricks on one and a half of the wingwalls had been laid, the brickwork beneath the bridge had been prepared, concrete verges had been poured along the bridge parapets and Rick had been retrieved.

Saturday evening saw us all back at the hall where Martin had prepared a delicious chicken stew, as well as a “Russian salad” using home grown cucumbers donated by Nadia (Marcus didn’t try his pickles though…..maybe in spite of protestations that he didn’t want them he just didn’t want to share them around).

Tim managed his usual feat of turning up just in time for dinner, and the supplies for the Sunday morning’s breakfast vastly increased. Due to a mix up both Lesley and Tim bought sausages and bacon for breakfast…..the rest of the group though seemed to have no problem at the thought of too much bacon and sausage for breakfast.

After dinner it was back down to the White Hart where the group was joined for the evening by my sisters who shed bemused looks on the group and wondered what the hell their brother had got himself into.

At the end of the evening the short walk back to the hall provided a perfect evening for star gazing as it was a beautifully clear night with the Milky Way visible in the sky…..also for those of us lucky enough to look up at the right time a shooting star made an appearance.

Again the party split into sleepers and idiots…..with the idiots moving to the kitchen again to continue the drinking and talking into the small hours yet again. With Bob’s decision to join the idiots there were hopes that he might lay in on Sunday morning but these hopes were dashed when Bob got up to see the morning in with a stroll around RAF Lyneham.

Sunday morning again saw an early start although with the added bonus that we did not have to clear the hall by 9am as previously thought necessary since the preacher of the religious group was ill and nothing short of a miracle would enable him to get there – (there were a few nervous thoughts though about having to still clear the hall as he was definitely in the right line of business for the performing of a few miracles). Breakfast was prepared by Lesley with a helping hand from myself and contained an ample supply of bacon and sausages.

With lunch having been prepared, the breakfast things cleared away and the kitchen tidied in anticipation of leaving the hall that day the convoy set off a little before 9.30am missing only a few elements. Martin had planned to stay behind for a while to prepare the next issue of Navvies. However, Tim after a moment of blinding inspiration managed to stamp his claim for this year’s “Lame Excuse” award……not only did he managed to lock his keys in the car but he also managed to leave the engine running and his mobile phone in the car. This meant he had to await the arrival of the RAC to rescue him. Out on site everything seemed too quiet but then we suddenly realised that with Tim’s car temporarily out of action and Martin staying behind we had not had enough room to bring Sal. However, the Morris Traveller turned into a white charger as Martin abandoned Navvies and brought Sal out himself. Eventually Tim managed to extricate the keys from car and was able to join us although nobody was sure what he actually did when he got there.

The day tended to proceed pretty much as the day before (including air show again) but with most of the brickies topping off the brickwork inside the lock and Nigel and Pete finishing of the wingwalls. Marcus helped move the compound around since with the bridge now operational the road could be diverted over the bridge. Yet again the use of having a 4-wheel drive vehicle on site was realised when “The Beast” had to be used to help one of the site vehicles get moving.

With the weather hotter than Saturday (32ºC according to Marcus’s phone although we were not sure that wasn’t the temperature of his trousers), by mid afternoon it was clear that everyone was flagging slightly so an extended tea break was taken where we all watched the kettle boil to provide a little longer rest (in the shade) than usual. The plan was to finish up once the bricklaying on the wingwalls was finished so with the eyes of the rest of the group upon him Nigel managed to cope with the pressure admirably and the wall was completed, scaffolding dismantled and kit cleaned by about 6pm. Since it was the day for the Wootton Bassett carnival the main road had been closed off but it was a quick trip back to the hall following the diversion signs – that is it was quick for everyone but Tim and Sal since Tim managed to follow the diversion the wrong way and just guess who had the hall keys. Eventually we managed to get into the hall where the final tidying up and packing away was completed. By a little after 7pm a tired but happy group bid adieu to the hall and Lyneham after a successful weekend’s work. In total the work completed for the weekend included the cleaning up and repointing of 90% of the brickwork on the underside of the arch bridge, laying of the coping level of bricks for both wingwalls and setting the facing bricks on the coping level of one side of the lock, dismantling of the scaffolding between the wingwalls, clearing of 150m of towpath vegetation and moving the majority of the compound to its new location.

Thanks to Matt for organising the weekend and to everyone for turning up and making my very first dig such a good one. For your sins I may even come back – that is if Sal hasn’t taken me to task using the list she was compiling throughout the weekend.

Andy Richardson