13/4/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker

2hrs

Cement and dust brought over tonight by Dave, so wall building session planned. James went to the end and reported back that the levels had dropped a little but probably not that much and there’s still no way of digging the end without it dropping further or sorting pumps. Dave then went in and took a look too. We then set to Dave cement making, James wall building, Estelle digging out the collapse at the end of the railway and Mike hauling and between him and Dave, more bag filling for the retaining spoil walls. 3 mixes later and the wall is probably about where it needs to be and Estelle had dug out the bank – lots of the white clay had been exposed and there is a rock that may need removing at some point – am sure it’s slid down that bank more than it was before! As it was warmer, we sat at the top of the ladder for a beer before heading home – roll on the Waldegrave opening properly!

6-4-21 first visit after lockdown restrictions easing

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

2hrs

First look at the dig since before COVID-19 lockdown. Headed into the dig to look at the end and it is currently flooded to approximately where you would sit for the lower haul. There is probably 3ft-ish depth of water at its deepest. It is possible to traverse along the edge a bit and see under the arch into the chamber at the end, but far too wet to dig at present. Since our last visit, there has been a subsidence from under the hedge line and most of the spoil buckets were buried under this. We soon retrieved these, but made the decision to spend the rest of the evening building up the retaining spoil bag wall in case of further subsidence, plus as it was quite chilly and windy that evening, it kept us warm for a while until we decided to crack open a beer each whilst down there! We discussed possible pumping ideas and also mused over whether the dig water level was at water table level or just backed up thanks to the thick clay we usually dig out. We also discussed the ideas of pumping and are looking towards a 2 pump system as most likely and Stu has brought over a big blue barrel that we could use for the middle level. We’d need 2 pumps with less lift that way and thus cheaper to acquire, plus looking at options to make sure the bottom pump is a 110v for safety, where it won’t matter for the top pump down to its location. We’ll look at the options over the next few weeks on all this, but meanwhile we can bring cement to continue building the wall up the side of the steps and also there is a small collapse the other side of the railway needing clearing.

3/11/20

 

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker plus Kevin Clinton at the start

2hrs

More cementing by the steps, water levels down a little bit. Kevin and Estelle headed into the top part above the main dig and Kevin showed Estelle a possible place where he thought likely to be worth digging. It’s worth a go whilst we’re unable to dig the end down to flooding. Made sure we tidied up a bit and didn’t leave cement as we know we’re not digging for a month down to lockdown #2 and had last trip to the Waldegrave for a while too.

27/10/20

 

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

2hrs

Cementing the wall by the steps as reinforcement to stop slumping. Also filled a load of bags with mud from the top to add to the wall levels at the top for retaining spoil before heading off to the Waldegrave.