PRACTICE MEET, RIDGE FARM, NOVEMBER 2025

Practice Meet: 8th November 2025

Venue: Ridge Farm, Diggle

It was a rather driech autumnal morning (grey and drizzling) on arrival at Ridge Farm, definitely not what the weather forecast had predicted. We hadn’t originally planned to be at Ridge Farm for this Practice Meet, however, following the previous PM, it was clear that there was still scope to run another PM before the end of the year. We just needed to keep an eye on ground conditions in case the site became too wet to work safely.

Fortunately, the grey drizzle was just low cloud (as is often the case around Saddleworth) and it gradually lifted during the morning, with tantalising glimpses of blue sky. The Tuesday group had done some very helpful preparation over the previous weeks, so that there was a good length of partly built wall for members to finish building and then top. With 13 branch members and some rather chunky stone brought down by Richard, progress was good, and by early afternoon, a substantial section of wall was up to height and just needed toppers.

Toppers are often in short supply, and whilst we always pull out anything that “could” be a topper when walls are taken down, there are rarely enough. There was some excellent teamwork by members to find sufficient toppers of the right sizes, and with a bit of creativity, this section of the wall was completed by mid-afternoon in some glorious Autumn sunshine, in total contrast to the rather inauspicious start.  A highlight of the day was the very moreish chocolate cup-cakes brought by John at lunchtime. And local artist John Hewitt paid us a further visit with Lenny, to take notes of our progress for another one of his brilliant sketches.

Kathy England