Friday 5th October turned out to be sunny and warm which made a pleasant change. A few of us met up at the village hall while others headed directly for Prickley Farm. The task for today was to remove two old stiles and replace them with new gates. The gates had previously been delivered and stored in an outhouse on the farm so everything was in place to begin the work. Surprisingly the old stiles came out quite easily (which is definitely not always the case) and we managed to dig the holes and trenches for the new gates without any major problems. Many thanks must go to Cath Nott for supplying coffee and biscuits.

Thankfully the 21st June turned out to be a dry day and as usual we met at the village hall. The plan today was to install three new gates some steps and a new way marker post at the locations shown below. John & Robin had delivered the gates, posts and steps the day before and everything was in place to begin the work. The location for the first gate took a fair bit of clearing as the route was very overgrown having not been used in years the second & third gates proved easier with the post holes and trench’s going in quickly, Gate ‘A’ had new steps installed and we were finally finished.

A special thanks to Nessa for kindly providing us with tea & biscuits.

The Martley footpath volunteers have been busy in the early part of 2004 despite the continuing wet weather. Our March session, under the friendly supervision of Jo Tufton, relocated and installed a new ditch crossing in Kingswood on the Eastern slope of the Teme Valley, located on the ancient path known as Chimney Lane. As the photos show, conditions on the steeply sloping and slippery clay site were challenging; it was distant from the nearest vehicle access and we could not have achieved the task without the assistance of the landowner, farmer Mr Richard Bray, who was able to deliver the heavy planks almost to where we needed them.

For our April working party we were assigned 10 waymark posts to replace. We had enough participants to divide into 2 groups each doing 5 and finished the job within the allocated morning. Although the ground remains waterlogged in many places, the relentless rain actually held off on the day, which felt pleasantly Springlike.

We continue to meet on the first Friday of the month and welcome new members, who should contact Mervyn Hardwell in the first instance via mailto:mervyn.hardwell@yahoo.com

A commemorative bench was installed on Monday the 18th December on the Worcester Way and Martley Circular Route in Kingswood in memory of John Nicklin, one of the founder members of the Pathornones who sadly passed away in April 2023. A good number of people attended and assisted with the installation of the bench including John’s wife and daughters and members of Team Valley Geological Society.