Thanks to the generous support of Barclays Bank an extra 40th anniversary event was held at the Ryton Wood Meadows Butterfly Reserve in Warwickshire.

The meadows have recently been fenced so that grazing by five Dexter cattle can be introduced. Obviously the fencing could inhibit member’s access to the reserve and ultimately their enjoyment of it, therefore, five intrepid volunteers attended the site on Saturday 19th April and three on 20th April to build 6 stiles over the fencing to supplement the access gates that will also be erected.

None of the volunteers had constructed a stile before and although things didn’t always go quite to plan, the experience was enjoyable with many funny moments. We even managed to finish all 6 stiles. Naturally all have been fully tested and amazingly that was after we had sampled several bacon butties, scones and cake!

The photographs above show the great sense of pride on completing the first sleeper stile which was solidly constructed, according to the plan and with all the safety features in place.