Saturday 20 August 2011

Milepost Workday - 14th August 2011

Having done a couple of inspection rides in the spring, I noted that two of the four mileposts (Lundwood & Carlton) in the Barnsley area were in need of a bit of TLC, so it was decided to put a workday to give them a touch up.
 
Carlton Milepost

 
Lundwood Milepost





















Unfortunately only I and one of ranger turned up for the workday, which may of been a blessing in disguise, due to the fact that the mileposts are not that big. Still we gave them a lick of paint, even though we are no Michelangelo!!!

Carlton


Lundwood




















We decided to give the mileposts a basecoat of black and highlight the lettering in white. As I have already stated we are no Michelangelo, this fact, lead on to a discussion about who out there could give these mileposts justice. I do not know if anyone has seen the milepost at Old Royston or even the multi-coloured one at Wortley but they look fantastic. We came to the conclusion that these mileposts may make a good project for an art student’s portfolio, so once term has began; I am going to look into Barnsley College and Carlton Community College, as both of these have art departments.


Lundwoods finished milepost

John Sheriff giving the finishing touch
to the Carlton Milepost.

It only took John Sheriff and me about an hour to paint the first one and slightly longer for the second. I have to admit that the mileposts do look better, after their lick of paint.



Tuesday 9 August 2011

Local Sustrans Volunteer Rangers Help Police – 7th August 2011

A request came through the main Trans Pennine Trail Office, from one of the local Police's Safer Nieghbourhood Teams (SNT) to help with a anti-motorcycle operation that was being conducted in the Barnsley area, on part of the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT).

Two volunteer rangers met at the SNT's base, where they received a briefing along with other members of the SNT. They were split in to teams and shown the local hotspots and the area they were to cover. There were two police vehicles on the ground along with two officers on mountain bike. There were also five Police Officers on foot in uniform and in plain clothes. Mid morning they were joined by another volunteer ranger and his dog.

Members of the public were engaged bethe police and rangers to ascertain if they had seen any motorcycles in the area. One member of the public informed the police that a small fire had been started next to the TPT. The police officer and two rangers went to investigate and they found a smouldering fire, thankfully the slight rain shower they had just had, had helped dampen the fire, so all that was left to do was make the area safe. As they returned to the TPT a motorcyclist shot past carrying a passenger, unfortuneately the were too late to stop it, but a discription and direction of travel was passed over the radio to the other officers on the ground.

After a short lunch break, everyone was back on the ground. The afternoon was pretty quiet and just as the SNT decided to call it a day, the youths from earlier came round the corner and once they had spotted the police turned round and went in the other direction. Unfortuneately the police was unable to give chase as they were dealing with another incident.

Everyone met up at the base for a de-brief and even though it had been relatively quiet on the TPT, the police still issued a quad biker with a warning and £30 fine. Those officers staying on duty decided to go back out and try and stop the youths who thus far hadn't been stopped.

Other anti-motorcycle operations are being planned for the near future, but the police require the public to report any illeagal usage of the TPT, so that they can build up a clearer picture and plan operations accordingly.

Volunteer Workday - 25th July 2011

We had reports that a number of signs in the Aldham Junction area of Barnsley had been vandilised with graffitti. So it was decided to paint the large cast iron arches, that were in and around Aldham Junction.



I had a meeting with Sarah Ford our LA Contact Officer from BMBC, who kindly offered to supply the equipment we needed, Sarah also organised for two of the BMBC Countryside Rangers to join us, this was also due to the H&S factor when painting the top of the arches.

We were due to meet at 1030hrs, but I got there at 1000hrs to survey what was actually required to be done, I was surprised to see the countryside rangers already waiting for me.

1030hrs came and went and with no other Volunteer Rangers insight we decided to start. As we were painting we engaged the general public.




The day went well, we managed to paint both arches until play was stopped due to rain. So it was decided to pack up and go our seperate ways, me home and the countryside rangers back to work.

As you can see from the final photos the arches look alot better with there fresh coat of paint. I would also like to thank Kym and Steve from the BMBC Countryside Rangers team for all their help and Sarah for suppling everything we needed.