December 2016
Last session of the year
We just have time to fit in one last session this year, which will be this Sunday 18th December at 1pm. We will continue work on compost bin and water butt installations, and there will also be some leaves to rake up.
Many thanks for your involvement this year, enjoy the break, and best wishes for the new year to come. There won’t be a January meeting, but weather permitting we’ll be aiming to get some initial planting done sooner rather than later, so watch this space.
(Posted 16 December 2016)
Next session & meeting
We will have a session this Sunday 4th December commencing at 1pm, when we will work on getting the compost bins and water butts installed.
Our next meeting is on Monday 5th December at 7.30pm.
(Posted 2 December 2016)
November 2016
The big soil shift
The forecast is looking hopeful, and quite a few of us seem to be available this Friday 25th November, so we will carpe that diem and get on with it. The soil will be arriving at or before 8am, after which I propose to have some breakfast, so I suggest that we commence no earlier that 9am, and indeed feel free to turn up at a time you consider to be civilised. If you have a barrow and/or a shovel please bring it/them with you as we will need plenty.
Assuming that we’re not all done by lunchtime, we will provide the chip shop with some much needed business (in times of roadworks) on the Triangle account, to keep ourselves fuelled.
(Posted 23 November 2017)
Topsoil alert!
The topsoil for the beds is on order and will be arriving early next Friday 25th November. There will be about 7 tonnes of it to shift from bulk bags near the entrance into the raised beds. We will achieve this feat on Friday 25th, Saturday 26th, or Sunday 27th (or over more than one day) depending on the weather, but with a preference for doing it sooner rather than later. If you would only be able to help on a particular day that would be useful to know.
Before we start we need to install a geotextile separation layer over the rubble fill, and the plan was to cover this with our readily available supply of fallen leaves. With apologies to those intending to do full justice to Liz’s party, we could have a short session commencing at 11am on Sunday morning to ensure that at least one bed is ready for immediate filling when the time comes.
(Posted 18 December 2016)
Next volunteer session + LUL gallery
We will be having a volunteer session this Sunday 13th November starting at 1pm. The priority tasks are finishing the top layer of the square raised bed and bedding the pond liner in, and fixing the final crosspieces and galvanised steel mesh on to the arches. As well as that there is some post-LUL rejigging to do in the workshop, and further preparations for installing the compost bins and water butts.
Following this we should be ready to order the topsoil for the beds, which means that sometime soonish we will need to have a chain gang session to shift several tonnes of soil from one end of the Triangle to the other. This will give you a good excuse to have extra helpings of Christmas pudding when the time comes, so actually we are doing you a favour.
Finally, as many of you will already know, on the 4th and 5th of November the Triangle is hosting a Light Up Lancaster event in association with The Dukes Centre for Creative Learning, Global Link, Dallas Road School and Dallas Road Boys’ & Girls’ Club. Two local artists are creating a large lit sculpture on the canal based on a series of workshops with schoolchildren. The Triangle will feature a backlit window display in the workshop, music, the boat, and various other items of interest. The event is running 5pm – 9pm on the Friday and 5pm – 7.30pm on the Saturday. If you weren’t at our last meeting but would like to be involved in some way please let me know.
Following the festivities, our next meeting is on Monday 7th November at 7.30pm. We will mostly be talking about plans for completing the Tesco Bags of Help funded work, including soiling and planting the beds, and installing paths.
For anyone that missed Light Up Lancaster at the Triangle, or would like to re-enjoy it somewhere warmer, there is now a gallery of photos on the website here.
(Posted 11 November 2016)
October 2016
A few things…
First up, a volunteer session this Sunday 30th October, at the usual time of 2pm. Top priority for this session is a serious tidy up of the workshop in readiness for Light Up Lancaster. There is potential to achieve some of this by doing some other works (e.g. top layer of the square bed, final pergola bits). As the boat has a performing role in LUL we should also check how awkward it is to get it in position now that the raised beds are in place.
For Light Up Lancaster itself, we will almost certainly need to offer some assistance with setting up on the Friday, as a minimum by putting the temporary roof on in the morning, and possibly also with shifting the boat around. Please contact us if you can be available to help, and we’ll coordinate a time when we have firm plans from the Dukes technicians.
The Dukes would like us to provide a Friends of the Triangle presence on both evenings while the event is running (i.e. Friday 5pm – 9pm, Saturday 5pm – 7.30pm) to talk to visitors if they want to know more about the history of the Triangle and the transformation project. If you’d like to fill a slot or two on a rota for this, please contact us with your availability. Otherwise, please come along and enjoy the spectacle!
(Posted 28 October 2016)
This Sunday’s session
This Sunday 16th October we need to get the second arch up, finish the rubble layer in the beds, and shift as much of the remaining rubble in the cobbled area as we can into appropriate areas of the site, for which Frances has a cunning plan.
Last Sunday we removed some graffiti, erected an arch (mostly thanks to a superb effort from Matt), shifted a few tonnes of rubble, got most of the way to getting the raised beds ready for soil, and levelled up areas of the site in readiness for Light Up Lancaster.
We will have an afternoon-only session but start at the earlier than normal time of 1pm and hopefully we will be finished or thereabouts by our usual knocking-off time.
Work has now started on finishing the pointing of the altered sections of the towpath boundary wall in lime mortar, and is looking good.
(Posted 13 October 2016)
A sesh and a talk!
First up, this Sunday 9th October we will be having a long volunteer session starting at 10am and continuing til 4ish. Lunch will be provided at a suitable midway point. The plan is to finish filling the bottom of the beds with rubble, fill the remaining low areas with similar, erect the timber arches, get the pond in place and finish the small bed, and remove the graffiti from the owl. A skip full of graded rubble will arrive on Saturday morning.
Secondly, the talk: Jane and Mike are doing a presentation for the Marsh History Group on the history of the Triangle on Thursday 20th October at 2pm at the St Thomas More Centre on St Thomas More Walk, off Willow Lane. All are welcome.
(Posted 5 October 2016)
September 2016
This week’s session
This Sunday 18th September at 2pm it’s our scheduled 3rd Sunday of the month volunteer session. We crossed one and a half items off the list last week, and the missing timber for the arches has now arrived, so there is plenty to go at.
In other news, there will be an opportunity to admire a working raised bed in a local garden on Wednesday 21st September at 5pm. Places are limited so please contact us if you would like to come along.
(Posted 16 September 2016)
Come and help us make our beds!
We made excellent progress with raised bed construction today, and all four beds have at least two layers in place. We will have a rain-soaked day of rest on Saturday, and reconvene on Sunday morning at 10.00am (or whenever you are ready) to finish the job. A plan for lunch is being cooked up as I write.
A brief reminder also that our next meeting is on Monday 5th September at 7.30pm.
(Posted 2 September 2016)
August 2016
Good news and… suboptimal news
The good news is that our friendly contractor Ric has been to do some concrete cutting and breaking ready for the raised bed construction, and that the sleepers are definitely coming in time for next Friday’s session.
The suboptimal news is that contrary to their original suggestion that they would arrange delivery to suit us, the sleeper supplier is now saying that they are coming on Tuesday or we wait two to three weeks for the next wagon heading our way which also won’t be on a day of our choosing. And no we can’t pay extra to have them on Friday instead.
So the sleepers are coming on Tuesday, about mid day they reckon. We probably don’t want to leave them on pallets by the side of the road for three days, so I’m afraid that we are going to need to shift them.
On Tuesday afternoon (and evening if necessary) we will therefore be having a free outdoor gym session to transport 160 sleepers part of the way to their final resting place. Please come along if you can, and if you are willing to be door knocked or phoned with a summons once they have arrived please let me know.
(Posted 26 August 2016)
Late summer fun programme
We are in for a busy few weeks, but hopefully by the end of them the Triangle will be looking noticeably different, and we will be well on our way to delivering our Tesco Bags of Help funded works.
This Sunday 21st August we will be shoehorning a scheduled third Sunday of the month volunteer session in between all the unscheduled ones. Sadly the weather doesn’t seem to have received the message about these but there is still some hope of seeing the sun this time, and potential for some work inside the workshop if necessary.
On Friday 2nd September starting bright and early (or as early as you can make it) we will be having a special full day session where we will be constructing raised beds, with expert assistance from a local contractor who has done it before.
The sleepers are on order and the ideal scenario is that they will arrive first thing that morning so that we only have to shift most of them once. This will be an ‘all hands on deck’ operation so please come if you can, and wear boots with steel toecaps if you have them. If it rains, we will have to get wet, but we’ll aim to get the temporary roof up on the timber structure for shelter. Lunch will be provided.
t is likely that we will then select either the Saturday or Sunday of the same weekend to carry on with the job, and give those who can’t make it on Friday a chance to lift heavy sleepers around. It would be really useful to know who can and can’t make it on the Friday or the weekend as it is fairly critical that we have enough person power available to shift the sleepers.
Our next meeting falls on Monday 5th September, and the plan will be to keep it brief.
(Posted 19 August 2016)
June 2016
Volunteer Session Sunday 19th June
A reminder that there is a volunteer session this Sunday – 19th June at 2pm.
The potential list of jobs:
- Upgrade tree protection
- See how boat looks in proposed position
- Filling gaps in the setts near the entrance
- Trial holes in areas of new paths, raised beds, and boat
- Remove remaining ivy on corner of back wall
- Locate and seal former toilet waste
- Think about putting the mushrooms in the ground
It looks like a busy day so here’s hoping for good weather.
(Posted 13 June 2016)
Fair debrief, volunteer session, next meeting
What a lovely day we had last Saturday! The rather regrettable mix up with the weather order the week before barely ruffled our stride, and our delayed fair raised a phenomenal £756! Huge thanks to the core Triangle team who are getting very slick at running these events, and to everyone who brought cake / books / toys / raffle prizes / plants / instruments / themselves / etc and contributed to the fun.
To celebrate our success we will be having a short volunteer session on Saturday morning (4th June) at 10.00am to relocate the much reduced pile of walling stone to somewhere more tidy, and remove undesirable elements (e.g. brick and broken slate) to a skip on Regent Street. Rumour has it that the housing across the canal is going to be completed, and they’ll probably want their temporary fencing back.
We are due a meeting on Monday 6th June, at 7.30pm. We haven’t done one al fresco for a while, so assuming the weather is still on side we will meet on site at the Triangle.
(Posted 3 June 2016)
May 2016
Spring fair is go!
A quick reminder (as if you needed it) that the delayed 12.00 – 4.00pm BBQ & Cake service at Aldcliffe Road Triangle is confirmed for this Saturday 28th May. Friends of the Triangle would like to apologise for the delay to this service which is running approximately 10,080 minutes late.
We will be setting up from 9am and person power will be required to erect the marquee and gazebos, shift the boat, arrange tables and chairs etcetera, so please come and join us for an early shift if you can. As usual we will be taking donations of books, raffle prizes, and cake from late morning, by which time we will hopefully have somewhere to put them.
Most importantly, come and join the merriment!
March 2016
Funding news, fair warning, and volunteer session
First up… fantastic news! We came second in the Tesco Bags of Help vote which means £10,000 will be coming our way at some point soonish. This will pay for paths, raised beds, soil and plants, plus £2000 worth of something else yet to be agreed. That should keep us busy over the summer.
Also coming up is our Spring Fair, which will be held on Saturday 21st May, and will feature the usual mix of cake, burgers, music, books, info, games, and cake. Please put the date in your calendar now, and we’ll issue some more details and pleas for help nearer the time.
In the meantime we will have a volunteer session this Sunday 20th March at 2pm, where among other tasks we will be measuring up for a potential boat.
The next meeting is on Monday 4th April at 7.30pm.
(Posted 27 March 2016)
February 2016
Bags of news
There is a volunteer session at the Triangle this Sunday (21st February 2016) weather permitting. If the weather is too dreadful we will retire somewhere dry to discuss the news below.
Bags of help
Tesco has teamed up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help initiative across England and Wales. The scheme will see three community groups and projects awarded grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the 5p bag charge. Bags of Help offers community groups and projects in each of Tesco’s 390 regions across the UK a share of revenue generated from the five pence charge levied on single-use carrier bags. The public will now vote in store from 27 February until 6 March on who should receive the £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 awards.
We put in a bid for the Triangle, which was successful! We are intending to use the money for raised beds, liners, several tonnes of topsoil, trees and plants, steps and paths. Members of the public are asked to vote for us in the Tesco local store in King Street from Saturday 27 February to Sunday 6 March.
(17 February 2016)
January 2016
New Year’s meeting
Happy New Year Trianglers!
Following the stymying of our last meeting by a prolonged power cut, we will be having another attempt on Monday 11th January at 7.30pm.
If it ever stops raining for long enough we will also have a volunteer session, provisionally on Sunday 10th January at 2pm.
(Posted 2 January 2016)