Hi, we are the new Myplace trainees and this is a bit of an introduction to us and what we have been up to in our first few weeks.

The three of us started on the 4^th December, joining trainee Lee who has been part of the Myplace team since June 2018. We have had a fantastic, jam-packed few weeks, meeting all the team and learning lots of different skills that we’ll be sharing with you and applying to Myplace sessions over the next 12 months.

We met Chat Moss project officer, Mike, who introduced us to the wonderful world of Sphagnum moss and we all had a go at making our very own ‘Bog in a Box’, using different plant species that would later be planted back onto Chat Moss, and so help the natural biodiversity of the carbon storing mossland, providing a rich habitat for wildlife such as large heath butterflies and common lizard.

We have learnt about tool talks with Myplace project officer, Andy.  It was great having the chance to learn how to safely handle and use different and new tools, such as the Swedish log splitter.

Later that week, we spent an afternoon practicing fire-lighting with Jenni, Mike and Natalie. We successfully brewed up despite soggy conditions (we know tea making is probably the most important lesson we’ll learn as trainees).

Working together as a team, we built a campfire creating a cosy little hideaway under the parachute. The Kelly Kettle proved a bit trickier, we almost smothered the fire but managed to get the embers burning again – if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

We spent the last few hours of our first week fixing a wonky saw horse at Brockholes reserve.  The new saw horse is bigger than the two existing ones and so was a bit shaky at one end.  After a group confab and a couple of failed schemes, we managed to wedge the saw horse into a more stable position.  Again, the weather wasn’t on our side, the minute we started sawing wood, the heavens opened and we got hailed on. Luckily, it only lasted five minutes and then we were able to gather some materials together for the Myplace Christmas Party. 

We really enjoyed manning the craft stalls at the Myplace Christmas party and meeting so many lovely people. It was a great afternoon and we are really looking forward to seeing everyone during sessions over the coming months. Bring on 2019!