Pit Pony Sanctuary – DSWA to the rescue

The branch received a request from the Pit Pony Sanctuary in Pontypridd to repair some field walls which had fallen into disrepair. By good fortune one of the committee lives close by to the sanctuary and so Luke O’Hanlon made the initial recce. After a quick discussion with Roy (Sanctuary manager) it became clear that there were two sections of wall that required repair. One had collapsed completely and another section had been hastily repaired to keep stock from escaping. It was decided by the branch committee to ask members to lend their support for this worthy cause.

So on the 11th February ten members were raised through the new WhatsApp group ‘Welsh Rock Heads’ and email contacts. The weather was unsurprisingly inclement and the group carried a few tools over to the walling site approximately 300m from the sanctuary car park (there wasn’t one really, Roy managed to squeeze the cars into the farm yard). The group split into two parties of five and walling commenced at 09:00 am. After rain, sunshine, snow which was joined by a bitterly cold wind it became clear to us that we were going to go through every bit of clothing which had been brought with us. Jacket on, jacket off, jacket on………

Simon had brought his GoPro device once again and set it to task to time lapse record his section of the build. Just over 30 minutes were taken for lunch and by 3pm the two sections had been coped. Roy was thrilled with the progress and the only person who looked disappointed was Chairman John, this was in part because he had brought the entire contents of the Lidl biscuit isle and the fact that David had trumped his biscuit collection with fresh jam doughnuts. A thoroughly enjoyable day for DSWA Wales and we wish the Pit Pony Sanctuary every success for the future.