Working meet – 25th March 2023

Members: Laura Bond, John Castick, Joe Dugdale, Mich Harrison, Kate Harvey, Tim Howarth, Sue Hughes, Pete Hughes, Stuart Hurworth, Andy Stratford, Dave Wylie

The start of the working meet began on Friday when Joe and others took delivery of a new picnic bench for the paddock.

A large job which was considered for this meet, was painting the kitchen, but it was decided it was not a good time of year to do this, as well as requiring more working bodies than we had available this weekend.

Saturday morning began with typical Welsh rain. This of course didn’t put off the weekend outdoor task team (John, Andy, Joe, Dave & Stuart) from getting cracking, alternating between working outside and sheltering inside out of the weather in particularly heavy downpours. Thankfully it cleared up enough before lunch so that a decent amount of work could be done on track repairs and starting work on car park drainage run off. Joe and Dave prepped an area for the bench and saw that the bench was placed on levelled blocks until the supplies for a more permanent placement are acquired.

Pete did a valiant job of taking on the cleaning of the lounge on a solo all-day mission, which included dancing the chairs around the room to properly apply cleaning treatment to the floor.

Work in the ladies bathroom started with Tim scraping the wall of one of the cubicles which was showing blistering of the paint work due to damp, and applying an undercoat of paint. Mich re-grouted the shower, and Tim added to it the next day with some sealant which we hope should help improve the damp problem.

Another well overdue task was completed by Mich, in cleaning the extraction fans over the showers - so much dirt and dust!

Laura spent most of the meet on kitchen cleaning duties, targeting the parts that often get missed on a general hut clean after a meet - tops of shelves, the heater, oven knobs to name a few.

In the dorms, a change of pillow protectors were required - completed by Kate and Sue, who were then joined by Tim to take on the changing of the mattress covers. If you have never done this job before you have no idea of the effort required in finding which covers fit on our uniquely sized foam mattresses. I stand in solidarity with anyone who has had to do this task and am very grateful for those who completed it this weekend. A thorough dust, clean and mop of the dorms were also ticked off the list by the team.

A well deserved break for lunch, where the wording for the proposed ‘Welcome to Ty Powdwr’ slate and brass dedication plaque was discussed - part of the Bowden and Millie Black Memorial Fund for the 50th Anniversary of Ty Powdwr.

In contrast to the morning, weather for the rest of the day was bright which was great for John and Andy clearing the Knoll (did you know we have a knoll? I didn’t - that was a fun discovery this weekend!) Stuart continued with the drainage run off, and Tim applied a new coat of paint to the gas store wall. It was so bright in fact, Tim had to put sunglasses on against the glare of the white paint!

Some indoor afternoon jobs, alongside the continued general cleaning, saw Sue busying herself cleaning the drying room, Tim painting the ladies bathroom cubicle, and Dave undertaking some health and safety checks of alarms, monitors, and safety procedures.

After a good day's work, some of the party relaxed on the new bench with a beer until the sun began to set, and later in the evening games to wind down.

Dave stayed on until Monday to take receipt of a gravel delivery for the track - thank you! Taking advantage of a day of superb weather, Dave then took a walk up Yr Wyddfa (via the Llanberis path both up and down) and was treated to some stunning summit views. Back at the hut, a review of the personal Wylie Archives revealed half of Dave’s lifetime ago he was on a working meet at Ty Powdwr (reported in the July 1993 newsletter, available from the KMC website). This means Dave has spent more than half of his life working on the hut!

Thanks to all who attended and worked so hard.

If you’d like to challenge Dave’s Ty Powdwr working meet record, we’d be happy to see you at the next working meet in June 🙂

More info to come, Jobs may include:

INSIDE: General cleaning of all areas of the hut, painting, compliance checks,

OUTSIDE: Pothole filling and tamping on the track, Bench and seating install, Gutter bracket and gutter repair, stone step construction to the knoll