Saturday Overview

Bouncing out of bed on Saturday morning, the others in Tyson room and I were ready for the day. We had a vague idea of the hours to follow; a walk to Black Sail, groundwork, interviews and (finally) a bonfire organised by Walter, of the Low Gillerthwaite Field Centre, and his family.

            What actually followed was, for me, one of the highlights of my time spent with CRCL. After everyone split into their respective groups, we began the day’s activities. The walk to Black Sail should have took about two and a half hours- our close shave with a group of cows, bulls and their calves notched that up about half an hour. Following Ian and Andrew’s failed negotiation attempts to clear the gate and our scaling of a barbed wire fence, we finally made it around them.

We managed to get back in time to see the other group pulling out copious amounts of weeds and fence posts, those who had had interviews silently reflecting on questions asked and answers given.

Following lunch, the groups swapped around: I was assigned to paint picnic benches, while the others continued trying to tackle the undergrowth to clear way for some of Walter’s projects. The other group accompanied Ian, again, to Black Sail. The distance between Black Sail and Gillerthwaite is roughly the distance between where we stay in Tanzania and Kisondela, an administrative ward with a local high school in Rungwe.

Once interviews were over and everyone had realised that they are totally not intimidating as we thought they’d be, everyone needed some light relief. Following Saturday night’s dinner made by our fabulous cook team, the leaders tasked us with entertaining them.

I think some of us (myself included) had some pretty serious illusions of grandeur- we capitalised on Sarah Jackson’s knack for playing guitar and sang a fair few songs, Budapest by George Ezra and Rather Be by Jess Glynne included. While it wasn’t what the leaders seemed to have had in mind, we all had a pretty good time.

By the time we’d finished, Walter had assembled the wood collected by people doing groundwork into an impressive pile. The bonfire was already burning, and we all sat down to listen to tales about Glynnis, LGFC’s resident ghost. Coincidentally, just as we’d heard of her propensity to rattle chains and walk the grounds at night, we heard some chains rattling and seen someone walking the grounds at night. Some of us were enamoured with the old stories, however some screamed screams that would challenge those of Glynnis’ victims. Despite this, the hilarity of the whole situation and togetherness made the burst eardrums worthwhile.

Giving up on waiting for the moon to come out from behind the fells, we went to bed- those of us in the haunted Tyson room slept in solidarity, hoping there’d be no interruptions from Glynnis.

Ashleigh