Riding for the Disabled, Southmoor - Saturday, 15 February 2025

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Blog by Sally, photos by Julio and Sally

On a rather dull, drizzly morning we returned to the Riding for the Disabled Centre at Southmoor for some more tree planting.  We welcomed four new members - Sarah and her children, Charlie and Ava, and Kevin.  

Joyce from the RDA had obtained another 150 hawthorn whips from "I Dig Trees" following the success of our last tree-planting exercise here a year or two ago, which was going to be the main focus of our morning.  

We assembled in the car park where Joyce explained our tasks for the day, one of which was to check on the hawthorn hedge we had planted previously and another was to clear the ditch of overgrowing vegetation.  Adrian had brought our tools and Joyce had brought the box of hawthorn whips, canes and guards.  

Joyce and Adrian brief the group


The box of goodies from I Dig Trees, which also came with a handy planting guide

We then set out the canes to mark out the spacing for the trees along the fence line, and matched these up with a hawthorn whip and a tree guard to protect them from rabbits and deer.

  
Planting out in progress

Whilst the tree planting was happening, a few people had been asked to return to the field where we'd planted a hawthorn hedge by the road and were asked to clear away debris and check the canes.  They reported back that the hedge was doing very nicely, which was encouraging news for the tree planters.

Barbara and Sally, who'd brought their scythes, were asked to clear vegetation from the ditch.  We kept an eye out for signs of water voles, but there were none, so we were able to carry on working.  Rhian and Susan joined us to help clear away the cut material, which we were asked to put into heaps for the tractor to remove at a later date.

The ditch to be cleared, looking towards the first hedge we planted in front of the white house in the background

In the ditch - Barbara tackling the overgrown vegetation

Rhian and Barbara clearing the ditch

Once all the trees had been planted, it was all hands on deck to clear the ditch.  It was soon time for break and we made our way back to the Centre HQ, where Joyce kindly handed out some delicious cake and we were treated by seeing one of the horses being trained for the jumps in the arena as we dried out.  Adrian had circulated our spring programme earlier that week, so a few copies were handed out to those who had not managed to download it yet.  It has now been published on both our website and Facebook page.  Suitably refreshed, we made our way back to site to continue with clearing the ditch using scythes, rakes and pitchforks to clear away the cut vegetation.

The newly planted hedge

We've dug trees!  What next?

Our break entertainment

Kevin putting our new crome (or drag fork) to good use

A few of the horses watch our progress as they munch

Julio takes the last forkful to the heap

The cleared ditch

Job done!  Time to go home

We left the site with a sense of achievement feeling as though we'd had a good morning's work - even the weather hadn't dampened our spirits!


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