Well, it doesn’t seem like five minutes since the last autumn work party... Meeting old friends and new, to begin with we just have to carry multiple food boxes and luggage along the jetty at Martin's Haven, ready for the short - usually choppy - hop to Skomer for the week.
Greeted by Ceris and Georgina we just have to make our way to the sales point, food and luggage in hand, when the radio goes and the team's assistance is needed down the slipway. Here we meet Leighton and Will, and we just have to lift the boat off the trailer to adjust the rollers to stop it falling back into the sea...
Task completed, we get to the farm for our instructions, and of course to put the kettle on for tea: the first of many, many cups!
An army marches on its stomach. So, Myfanwy, you just have to feed ten people three meals a day for seven days... and what an amazing job she did! Porridge at breakfast, soups at lunch, and dinner and pudding in the evening - and of course tea and cake mid-morning and afternoon. The only casualty being tomato soup which spilled in the box on the way up, soaking into the bread. Look out for me and Georgina on Dragon's Den with our ‘Skomer pre-dipped bread’ - remember you heard it here first!!
So to task allocation: we just have to clean and close down the volunteer accommodation; we just have to rebuild the steps and handrail; we just have to replace the floor in Ceris and Will's hut, but before all that we just have to help Lee get his model up the steps...
The model is a museum-quality scale model of Skomer Island, perfect in every detail, and it has taken Lee eight months to complete. It is housed in a glass display case and wrapped in bubble wrap which makes it heavy, awkward and slippery. Lee is understandably anxious and tired, he never slept last night thinking about moving the model today.
So we meet Lee and Rick at the boat landing point. Volunteers Nick, Mia and Pete have helped load the model at Martin's Haven - on the island side, we start the unload.
So, we just have to get it up the steps and then to the visitor centre. A very quiet, slow, careful relay up and around the various landings and slopes and we are at the sales point, safe, and Lee is starting to relax. We strap it to the gator... 'Who's driving the gator then?' The slowest person to step back is Will, so he takes the slowest, most tense gator ride in the history of Skomer and breathes a huge sigh of relief finally parking up by the doors of the visitor centre.
Lee unwraps the model on the pre-made plinth and we all peer in, lost for words. It is outstanding, millimetre perfect. 'I just had to make it in my spare time', he says, having relaxed now his model is in place.
We just have to fix the steps... Leighton, Simon and Georgina disappear for the rest of the day. They come back after breaking through a hollow step at the landing, finding a cavity caused by burrowing and erosion, backfilling with rubble, mixing concrete at the top of the steps and carrying it down to fix the hole and replace the posts. The handrails are later painted in customary Skomer brown to match the other handrails.
We just have to close the volunteer block down for the winter... Mark, Pete and Ceris have everything out in the courtyard, cleaning in all the cupboards, behind, under and in the cooker and fridge, then the same in the bedrooms, vacuum cleaner in overdrive wrapping bedding, mattresses sealed to keep them dry and mouse proof, shelf units checked, cleaned and polished...
'Let's take a look at the hut, we just have to replace the floor', says Will. 'I've taken the old one out', he says to me and Nigel, standing in the subsoil in the middle of the hut. 'All the wood to make the new floors is over there. Oh, and by the way, the new lino comes the day after tomorrow!'
The bottom of the walls have rotted away. Four days later the outside cladding has been removed, the hut walls rebuilt on larger timbers, the foundation blockwork has been reset, and all the floor joists and the floor have been completely replaced, including underneath the new fitted kitchen - which could not be taken out...
Team Cladding: Simon, Leighton and Georgina then just have to reclad the gable end, rebuilding from scratch the rotting window frame.
During all these activities, the lino arrives and we go to collect it from the landing stage, where we also just have to get those water containers as well... These are four 1000 litre IBS industrial storage tanks, and we just have to take them up the steps. They are going to be used to harvest rain water off the roofs. Will and Nigel just have to install them later...
In the morning, Leighton says we just need to take a look at the dam at Moorey Mere. Georgina and Simon in tow, gator filled with pressure washer, generator, cement mixer, sand, cement, gravel and of course water because Moorey Mere is dry, away they go. They return some considerable time later having cleaned out and refilled the cracks and leaks, concreted over and repaired the dam, finishing off as any concrete worker would - by putting their initials in the wet concrete!
Simon is now flying solo cladding the hut, and he's just heard for the first time the famous work party phrase, 'You are doing so well... we will do some more!' We just need to rebuild the windows around the porch. He duly does and that is the majority of the hut now reclad.
Leighton and Georgina just have to rebuild the benches and storage at North Haven workshop; Will and Nigel just have to do the same in the dumper shed and just position the water tanks for rain water storage; and Mark, Pete and Ceris just have to close the island down, bringing in ropes, signs and benches used by the visitors this season.
We just need to put the lino down. I say I don't like fitting lino... that is taken as a 'I really enjoy it and I'd love to do it please!' So I go through the measurements, how big is the hut? 7 metres, how much lino do we have? 7 metres. How much margin for error? Zero.
The following day it's cut, fitted and laid, then taken back up again and glued down along with my socks and fingers! I recovered these, and with a huge sigh of relief the floor is fitted.
And so we finish. The mountain of food is smaller. The lake of tea has been drained. Mark's prize-winning cheese has been devoured (still not convinced on chocolate cheese though). Myfanwy hangs up her apron; a job well done.
A really productive week, helped of course by fair weather, but more so by great company. I look forward to seeing you all on Skomer in the very near future.