Friday 18th April

There was a change to the usual working day to Good Friday, with an initial gang of 5 meeting up at M&FM. Eddie and Keith B departed on the line inspection to Alresford, with Adrian, Keith H, and Martin B Alton bound. The weather was fine, but with a chilly breeze making the walkers glad to exit the cuttings into the warmth of the sunlit embankments.

The Alton contingent met Neil at the Station, who had arrived via the South West Trains service, and the return to base late morning was followed by an afternoon's work at the A31 embankment. Neil applied the last coats of paint to the Pway hut window, and Adrian made and fixed a weather drip above, completing the job with sleeper joint cover strips and a coat of Creocote. Eddie and Keith B meanwhile, lit a bonfire and continued to burn cut material on the embankment to the Ropley side of Farm Road bridge, with Keith H adding to the pile with his enthusiastic use of the chainsaw. Before departing, the new metal security shield for the hut window was installed.