On 18/19 March John and Richard and then Dave and Richard completed the retaining wall with stone sourced by Bruce from a supplier who deals in sand and gravel.
Although the stones are quite rounded they fit together quite pleasingly, as you can see. 

Our chairman, Richard Love, has provided this report from work done recently on a retaining wall at our training site at the Scottish Lime Centre at Merryhill in Fife - thanks also to Rosie for the photos.
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On Sunday 28 August I picked up Alan from the bus station and we headed off to Merryhill to carry on constructing a decent length of retaining wall (revetment in Dave-speak). There were just the two of us and Alan managed to shift a few barrowloads from the shrinking pile of rounded bouldery stone down to the site of the wall, where I had cleared enough grassy bank for a good solid foundation to go in. We worked on separate sections and hoped to complete some of it on our next visit.

On Saturday 3 September  John D had to call off with a broken tooth but I was joined by Rosie, who had not worked on a retaining wall before, and we barrowed much more stone from the pile. This is getting increasingly welded together with the dried mud which accompanied the original load, so mattock and spade were needed to prise pieces apart. As you’ll see from the pictures, one section of the wall has been coped, another half-finished and a final section started by Rosie, who declared that she really enjoyed working with this stone on this wall.

My next visit there will be in two weeks for our last training course, so if anyone wishes to turn up, feel free to join us and complete the retaining wall.

Richard

Over the summer we provided demonstrations of dry stone walling at the Haddington and Peebles agricultural shows.

The day of the Haddington show started rainy, so we were glad they had provided us with some 'indoor' space alongside our building site.

The day brightened up, however, and we had a fair amount of interest in our activities.

And by the end of the day we'd managed to build a couple of meters of wall (and sold a few books and generated some interest in our courses).

The Peebles show was on one of the hottest days of one of the hottest summers on record.

The show started quietly, but the numbers built up as the day went on (as did the length of the queues at the ice-cream stalls). We benefitted from an unused gazebo set up next to our site, where people seemed happy to be able to sit in the shade for a bit and watch us work.

We didn't have so many sales at Peebles, but there were still plenty of people interested in learning the craft.

Last weekend we held another beginners' training course at the Scottish Lime Centre Trust in Fife. It went well by all accounts, and the results look excellent. Thanks once again to Stevie for the photos.

Three months ago we started a dry stone seat at Tiphereth, in the Pentland hills, but had to pause the work due to a lack of stone. A couple of weeks back this was delivered, so a few hardy souls braved the chilly weather to continue the project, and got the bulk of the work done.

Looking pretty good, I'd say - and proof (if any were needed) that it worked:

And undeterred, last Saturday they returned in even less clement weather to finish the job, accompanied by some more truly dedicated dykers.

Yep, that's snow.

It's not stopping them from enjoying themselves, though.

And the seat still works.

Awesome work. Thanks to Stevie for the photos, once again.

This weekend we went ahead with the delayed project to build two viewfiender plinths and a circular seat at Easter Craiglockhart hill in south-west Edinburgh.

Yesterday was (apparently) a nice day, and half a dozen dykers supported by Ewan Davidson from the Friends of Craiglockhart managed to make a good start on the plinths. Sadly, I couldn't be there to witness this. Today was not so nice ... the rain did stop occasionally, but the mist never cleared. Sadly, I was there to experience this. Apologies for the less than clear photos, but they do give a fairly accurate idea of the conditions.

The two plinths were about 100 yards apart, to give the best possible views: one was near the summit, facing south west:

And the other was on a nearby rise, facing north.

Near the latter, a circle of stone had been started, to indicate where the seat should go.

​We set to work to complete the plinths and make a start on the seat, and by lunchtime the plinths were done and waiting for their plaques:

And the first course was in on the seat.

After lunch we could all concentrate on the seat, and by the end of the day it was up close to "sitting" level.

We're heading back next weekend to finish it off - hopefully in more clement conditions!

Last weekend we held another training course at the Scottish Lime Centre in Fife - thanks once again to Stevie Gordon for the photos.

A few weeks ago (apologies for the delay) we undertook our first 'normal' branch practical activity in about a year and a half, when we went to Tiphereth to make a start on a curved dry stone seat. 

Tiphereth is a community project for people with learning disabilities providing both residential care and workshops in Edinburgh. The site is at Torphin in the foothills of the Pentlands, and has great views over the city to the Forth.

It was pretty clear from the outset that  we didn't have enough stone to complete the project, even with an abundant supply of rougher stone nearby for hearting. There was also a lack of flat stone for the seating itself. 

However, we pressed on with what we had, and managed to get the 'base' (up to just below seat level) pretty much done.

We'll be heading back at some point to finish off, once more stone has been ordered and delivered (not sure when that might be ... seems to be a bit of a shortage at the moment). 

(​Apologies also for the quality of some of the photos ... I think there was something on my camera lens ...)

Last weekend we held another beginners' training course, this time back at our old venue of Easter Kinleith farm in the Pentlands. Thanks once again to Stevie for the photos - looks like they made a great job of it!

... or is that second course at SLC? Due to COVID restrictions, we had to split our May course in two, run over successive weekends. Here's the result of the second course/part ...

Thanks to Bruce Curtis for the photos.