Their pitches had scraggy 'hedges' around them, and it was our task today to transform these in to nice hedges.
So an unusual event as we were scattered around the site in little clusters of hedgers, and with such a good turn out we gave the students 1:1 training.
Some of the experts were working on the road, with a more challenging hedge which had been done before many years ago by our very own Clive Gilligan.
The trainee sections were very light and at first glance we wondered if we would get enough material to make a 4' hedge, but once we got cutting it was amazing how much volume there was. With such small stock to work with there was not a huge amount of waste product, what little we produced was hoovered up by the team on site pretty quickly.
All too soon it was time for lunch, but most of the cutting was complete, and some sections had stakes and binders in place.
A very welcome soup and roll washed down with some tea/coffee refreshed everyone for the final push to complete their sections. It was good to have a light hedge as the rain started just after lunch, and the less hardy hedgelayers made a variety of lame excuses and left for home.
Some good work from the trainees, and a special mention for this years most distant travelled cutters Kirsten and Edward from Denmark.
The hardy ones amongst us will be able to add more in the comments, but I'm at home typing this in the dry :-)
Pictures as always (please add any more pictures you have!)
photos.app.goo.gl/2N9UPMr2Rwzs3SSx8
And finally, Mike spotted the recumbent hedgelayer