WRG Training Weekend - Brimscombe Port - 23/24 June
by: Jon P.
The red T-shirts of WRG descended upon Brimscombe Port for their annual national training weekend. This is the 2nd time in succession that CCT, SVCC, and SDC have hosted this event, so we must be doing something right.
Training sessions were available for small excavators, large excavators, dumpers, scaffolding, bricklaying, lime mortar, bricksaw, CAT scanning, breaker hammers, etc.. Plenty of CCT and SDC volunteers turned up to take advantage of this training which, in most cases, assumed no previous experience. The accommodation at Brimscombe Port provided a 'hub' for feeding, sleeping, and event administration. The available space here, and around the site of the old Port, provides ample opportunity for this sort of training The bricklaying, lime mortar training (provided by Ty Mawr Lime Ltd of Brecon), and scaffolding was carried out behind the Heras fencing, keeping well clear of the Rush Skatepark visitors.
In the woods at the top end of the site, the CCT 1.7T excavator and the WRG 3.5T excavator were kept busy with trainees and loading a dumper for their training.
Off site at Ham Mill, a hired in 8T excavator was used for large excavator training, together with the CCT dumper for further capacity.
On the Sunday, bricklaying trainees were whisked off to Weymoor Bridge, near Cricklade, to complete their training. This will have been a 'baptism of fire' for the trainees, who'd only just learnt to lay bricks straight, level, and vertical. The average Thames & Severn Canal bridge is anything but these parameters, being battered, curved, and with sloping courses - throw away your spirit levels!