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It was nice to have a team day away at Mountain Mayhem – off-road buggies and hovercraft racing and time trials… We managed to break two buggies and even a hovercraft! If you think you can drive, go and try the hovercraft – they are a great leveller !!
Good day had by all which was well organised and professional. Well done to all at Mountain Mayhem
This was followed by a meal for everyone and partners at The Well in Bulkington, which again was a well organised evening thanks to Tim and Sam.
Dan and Matt started a sectional dismantling 12 Poplar trees at The Hall Estate, Bradford on Avon which were 120′ high. Having a head for heights is one of the more important requisites of the guys on our team! What a glorious blue sky – haven’t seen one like that for a few weeks! Job done and all wood chipped for biomass and delivered locally.
See our images below and here Matt shows how to rig off a large limb safely and controlled. It does not look big from on the ground. In all, this project took 2 weeks to complete. Our tree works have taken us far and wide from Cornwall to Corby since our last newsletter!
Since our last update, we are delighted to confirm that we have secured a framework agreement with the Forestry Commission for the inspection of infected trees across the South West of England This also includes felling infected trees and collecting samples. This will take us from Gloucester down through Dorset and to East Devon.
Plotting infected trees for landowners and public bodies, with samples taken and returned to Forestry Commission for testing, follows on from a contract to survey over 50 sites for a national health care company from Preston in Lancashire in the north to Kent in the south, along with MoD sites throughout the South West. Apparently the little white van now needs replacing !
We won the contract to refurbish the viewing area at Larkhill on the edge of Salisbury Plain. The viewing area is used for Military Displays as well as the British Army live Firepower Demonstration.
Back in March 2014, we set about cutting the grass which had been uncut for a number of years. We re-fenced the rear of the seating/grandstand area with 400m new post and rail, replaced and repaired the concrete steps and installed a new access track. The final job was to replace 3000 linear metres of hardwood timber seating (see picture), which involved removing the old, sourcing replacements, painting and repairing all steel supports and then fixing new boards.
The new viewing area was then ready for The Royal Review which was celebrated on 26th May 2016, the 30th Anniversary of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Her Majesty The Queen was present and received The Captain-General’s Baton.
Read Her Majesty The Queen’s speech here
In May we erected and replaced additional creosote post and rail fencing at Manton Grange, Marlborough. This allowed the paddocks to be divided, thus giving increased turnout areas for the growing numbers of horses.
This was just a replacement for some old fencing in Devizes which had seen better days and which we replaced in April. 40m long and 1.8m high, this will last a good 10 – 15 years even longer if a coat of treatment is given every few years.
In March we used our 360° digger to remove self-set alder trees on a lake outside Devizes. Part of an ongoing project with plenty to undertake, work is carried out in small lots to allow the natural balance of the water and habitat to remain
This was part of an ongoing project with plenty to undertake: thus work is carried out in small lots to allow the natural balance of the water and habitat to remain undisturbed. We have submitted an application to the Environment Agency or an extraction licence to take water to fill the lake which has been approved; this will help raise water quality over the summer.
We’re very excited with our new-to-us additional Unimog. We purchased it from Belgium, brought it back in October, had it re-sprayed and fully serviced with new brakes and air valves and she’s now ready for work with a wood chipper on the back with a 1.5 ton capacity. We’ll certainly be able to access any tricky off-road areas you have…
And do you know the origin of this odd name? The Unimog is a range of multi-purpose auto four wheel drive medium trucks produced by Mercedes-Benz. The word is an acronym for the German “Universal Motor-Gerät”, Gerät being the German for device/machine/instrument/apparatus. There, you needed to know that!
Along with the miles of stock and post and rail fence that Dave and his team erect for landowners, we are now getting more requests for security fencing… sadly a sign of the times.
In February we erected high prison grade 3m security fencing for Wessex Water for their new pumping station in Sturminster Marshall, Dorset which gives a new pipeline to Salisbury; also a 2.8 palisade mesh around the green tanks. Security is naturally key here and this type of security fencing makes it near impossible to break into/climb up. It took us a couple of weeks but a good job well done. See a few of the pics below.
This type of fencing is used where a higher level of security is needed from a standard agricultural fencing and can be especially popular with schools and industrial sites because of high damage resistance and the fact that it is so difficult to climb.
For details of the different types of fencing, we are able to erect, check out our web page here.
This time we recently completed a 450m post and rail with double-sided electric on top of the post and rail to stop horses arguing with each other over the fence and damaging themselves or the fence. This allows for an increased number of horses at Manton Grange. The fence itself was constructed from pressure treated creosote timber; we still find this the most durable and long lasting timber product on the market. It can be unpleasant to work with but has the added advantage that the horses will not chew it either!
