Sockburn Hall Project :: Update 29

Hello!

It's a busy time for Sockburn as everyone gets into full flow of summer activities. This Update we've got news and pictures from our great May Working Weekend, thoughts about a Sockburn Hall Project book for 2010, and more...

Our first full Working Weekend of 2009? 'Wall-to-wall sunshine!'
My mum, Sarah, writes on behalf of the Sockburn Hall Project Team... Another amazing Working Weekend at Sockburn. We were very pleased to see many of our regular volunteers back again - some in tents - and to welcome several first-time volunteers who live locally. What a work force! A big thank you, and congratulations for great achievements.

Some of our very regular volunteers are also members of Middleton St George History Group, who have assisted the church's owners, the Diocese of Durham in the care of Sockburn All Saints' churchyard. This Working Weekend Sockburn Hall Project volunteers went to work, under the direction of History Group members, to transform the appearance of the churchyard, by removing dead and fallen branches. Take a look at the churchyard clearance photos!


Further, great, work to save the roof tiles was done in the Coach House area and we are very grateful for that positive input - and to the team who worked tirelessly on the ground beneath them.


The Lime Avenue received an early summer trim and looks better for it - we're told that working on the limes is better than Spa Therapy! Another team continued the onslaught on nettles, elder and ivy behind the Coach House discovering a long-hidden outbuilding. In fact work everywhere uncovered intriguing finds... from The Girl's Own Annual, 1888-9 to fascinating stonework - and lots in between!

See all the photos on the Flickr pages for Sockburn: www.flickr.com/groups/sockburn

We were also pleased to have a number of visitors over the weekend and we look forward to seeing and talking to you again.

The next working weekend is Saturday and Sunday 18/19 July. Please let us know (sockburn@gmail.com or 07933 320242) if you can join us. If you are unable to make that one, the following ones are 5/6 September, 24/25 October - after that we'll have a working day in December - the date of that one will be confirmed shortly.


If you would like to help, but are not able to attend then contributions of food or money/vouchers for food are most welcome. A big thank you for the contributions we've received recently - the food for our volunteers is an important aspect of our Working Weekends!


Inspired by Sockburn? Contribute your thoughts!
On Tuesday 9 August 1910, a grand fête was held in the grounds of Sockburn Hall to help raise money for a new vicarage. Among the stalls that day was one selling a 'Sockburn Book of Contributions', compiled by the vicar’s eldest daughter Bertha. Getting in touch the local gentry and clergy, friends and acquaintances (including Lord Tennyson!), Bertha had solicited contributions from the biblical to comical, from serious poems to riddles. The book sold, the grand fête was an amazing party... and the vicarage was built!

Have you been inspired by Sockburn like Wordsworth and Coleridge? Got a Sockburn story to rival the legend of the Sockburn Worm? Need an excuse to get the paints out at the next Working Weekend? Or just share a simple Sockburn memory... With the centenary of this successful but little known book just a year away we would like your help creating the 2010 version to support Sockburn Hall Project.

Email sockburn@gmail.com with ideas or submissions, and start thinking about what you would like to see published to raise money for the Working Weekends and ongoing project to save this great site.


Do you know of an unused trestle table?!
We're on the look out for trestle tables, wheel barrows and spades for Working Weekends. We can collect from the Darlington area or we can offer a cup of tea if you're able to drop them off around any Working Weekend dates. Email sockburn@gmail.com or call 07933 320242 if you can help. Thank you!

Sockburn in the news
For those who don't live locally, Chris Lloyd, Deputy Editor of The Northern Echo recently wrote a very interesting Sockburn article which can have a read online - it's well worth a look.

We look forward to seeing you at a Working Weekend soon. Hope that you're having a great start to summer.

Laura x

Sockburn Hall Project :: May Working Day Reminder

Hello everyone!

I hope that you're enjoying a bright and warm May so far... just writing with a quick reminder:

Sockburn Hall Project's next Working Weekend
Cross your fingers for great weather as we're almost set for the first full Working Weekend of the year: 30/31 May! If you are able to join us we would love to see you; be it for part of the day or the whole weekend. As always, come with clothes that can get dirty, sturdy footwear and your sense of adventure!

New grass in front of Sockburn's Shed on Wheels!

Please let us know if you are able to come and how long you can stay so that we can plan refreshments, and if you would like a lift from/to the station. Email sockburn@gmail.com or call/text Sarah Geary on 07933 320242.

Visitors from Friends of Teesside Archives
Braving the rain, Friends of Teesside Archives visited Sockburn earlier in the month to walk round the site and to look at the work Sockburn's volunteers have done. We hope you enjoyed the visit and look forward to seeing you again!

Plus a short notice heads up: TODAY 26 May, at Stockton Central Library at 7.30pm, Dave Went from English Heritage is giving a fascinating talk, Monasteries, monsters and mansions: recent research at Sockburn. Only £2 - catch it if you can!

Last but not least, thank you!
A huge thank you from Mark and me to everyone who sent good wishes for our wedding. We had a really wonderful time and we're looking forward to catching up with everyone in person before too long!

The Sockburn contingent on April 18

Hope that you can make it for the May Working Weekend, otherwise make sure you get 18/19 July, 5/6 September & 24/25 October in your diary!

Best wishes, and have a great weekend whatever you do!

Laura x

Sockburn Hall Project :: Update 28

Hello everyone!

It started somewhat inauspiciously with rain threatening to dampen Sockburn's fifteenth volunteer event, but the weather and the Sockburn Team pulled though... I wasn't able to attend the weekend in person*(see end of email for excuses!) but my family and Sockburn volunteers have let me know all about the day - which I can now pass on to you!

Rain, history and fantastic March progress
The tone was set for a great day when an optimistic volunteer lit the bonfire in the rain despite all the 'dry' wood having been thoroughly soaked over night! The pictures prove how successful that, and all the activities, were... take a look at www.flickr.com/groups/sockburn.

[photo courtesy of John Busby]

Activities varied from barrowing broken roof tiles from the Piggeries to fill in some potholes (involving barrowing from one end of the site to the other!) to clearing behind and in the Coach House/Stable Yard. Short work was made of the errant, and it turns out, diseased, elm tree: it was all hands on deck for that. And yet again the volunteers continued their attacks on ivy, elder, Russian vine and stumps of trees/bushes previously removed have been sprayed bright yellow to mark them for future removal and to warn people walking around that they are there.


Our dedicated volunteer in the house had an interesting find - a bar of chocolate reputedly carried 'by Major Richards 1st Wiltshire Reg to Mons, and through the retreat to Paris - during the Great European War 1914-18" which appears to be wrapped in lead - anyone who's got any ideas about the significance of this would be very welcome to give us their thoughts via sockburn@gmail.com.

We were also very pleased to welcome the grand-daughter of a former owner of Sockburn Hall - a member of the Thompson family - who was able to give us lots of history and some photographs of what it had been like in the 1930s. To find out more about this period in Sockburn's history, and to see a photo of the formal garden as it was then, have a look at Withy Brook's blog: withybrook.blogspot.com.

Thank you!
As always fantastic progress was made by our volunteers - thanks to everyone for their efforts, and to those who contributed to the food fund in any way. It is greatly appreciated.

[photo courtesy of Matt Falcus]

Take care, keep in touch - and don't forget our next Working Weekend (the first full Sockburn weekend of the year) on 30/31 May!

Laura x

*I'm getting married in Virginia, USA on April 18 and so hope you can accept my apologies for not attending in person! I'll be back later in the year though... and the volunteer work seems to be coping well in my absence, thanks to the Sockburn Team's efforts! x

Sockburn Hall Project :: March Working Day reminder

Hello!

Not sure of your plans for Saturday 28 March? Support Sockburn Hall Project's 15th volunteer event!
We're getting the wheel barrows rolling shortly after 10am and will make sure the kettle's boiling at 5pm - with food and refreshments provided in the interim! Please let us know in advance if you're able to come as this is a huge help with catering and organising our activities. Email sockburn@gmail.com or call Sarah Geary on 07933 320242.


Wear your rough, warm, work clothes and sturdy shoes/boots ready for work in the grounds... and if you have gardening gloves please bring them. Please remember that your help and support can be offered in many guises: let us know if you'd like to help with refreshments (serving on the day or making in advance) or if you'd like to contribute financially towards volunteer equipment and food. Your efforts and contributions are much appreciated!

It should be a good way to welcome the start of British Summer Time on the 29th - I'm looking forward to emailing with photos of the Working Day the following week!

Take care, Laura x

Sockburn Hall Project :: Update 27

Hello again!

Fuelled by tea, scones, cake and a fondness for Sockburn, the Project's volunteers uncovered, tidied and cleared in several parts of the site. Have a look at some of Saturday's pictures in the Sockburn group on Flickr: www.flickr.com/groups/sockburn.

An early Spring Clean!
Sycamores and Russian vine were discouraged from growing onto roofs of the Coach House and stable buildings and, with all the work in the 'formal' garden, the yew 'hedge' has started to look like... a hedge!


Not put off by the size of the job, the attack on the piggeries continued and other areas of the site also benefitted from much needed attention. And did I mention the cheese scones? They were tidied up too!


The next Working Day is Saturday 28 March. If you can join us at any time between 10am and 5pm please email sockburn@gmail.com.

We're in the Northern Echo!
Today (2 March) the Northern Echo reported our Working Day at Sockburn - it's page 17 if you get hold of a paper copy. The article (including a snap of us posing by the bonfire!) doesn't seem to be online yet, but we'll link to it when it is.

Don't hesitate to get in touch if you're interested in helping out.

Best wishes

Laura x

Sockburn Hall Project :: Working Day reminder

Hello!

As promised just a very quick reminder: we've got a Working Day at Sockburn Hall this Saturday, 28 February. Working in the grounds, we'll be starting at around 9.30am and finishing up about 4.30pm. Food and refreshments will be provided, as usual wear your cold/muddy weather footwear and clothes!

If you...

• have already told us you can come: great! Looking forward to seeing you there!
• would like to come and haven't been in touch: call 07814 248564 to let us know - lifts to/from the station can be arranged very easily.
• can't make it: don't worry! We'll see you another time and have the photos up on Flickr as soon as possible after the weekend!
  

Hope you have a fantastic weekend, whatever you're doing!

Best wishes

Laura x

Sockburn Hall Project :: Update 26

Hello!

A very belated happy new year! With the definite feeling that 2009 is rushing by fast here's a quick heads up about this year's activities for Sockburn Hall Project.

Braving it outdoors for the next Working Day
Saturday 28 February is our next volunteer day and - in spite of current snow and likely mud! - we're really looking forward to it. A reminder will be emailed nearer the time, but we'll be on site from 9.30am to about 4.30pm and we hope you can join us then. Let us know if you can make it; email sockburn@gmail.com or call 07814 248564.


As ever, there will be refreshments provided and your contributions to the food or 'food fund' (Sainsbury's vouchers are excellent!) will be very gratefully received. Thanks very much to those of you who have contributed to the Project's activities in this way... it makes all the difference.

Diaries at the ready!
Thanks to your enthusiasm, commitment and plain old hard work at Sockburn, we're coming back strong in 2009 with our third year of Working Days and Working Weekends. The dates past July are not set in stone, but will be confirmed nearer the time, however, we're planning on having Working Days on

• Saturday 28 February
  
• Saturday 28 March
  

& we're looking forward to Working Weekends on

• 30/31 May
• 18/19 July
• 5/6 September
• 24/25 October

Please email me sockburn@gmail.com (now or nearer the time) to let me know which dates you hope to make and don't forget to let us know if there's anything you can help us with to make the Working Weekends better.


It's destined to be a very exciting year, and with your help and interest we can try to improve the future for Sockburn Hall and this wonderful site for everyone.

Laura x