Thank you

A big thank you to all those people who have contributed so generously and in so many ways to the project.

From greenkeepers who have lent equipment and given advice, friends who have made an investment, the staff of the Brahan Estate to Claudia and Jon's neighbours who toot their horns and wave as they drive past. There are people who have called in person to have a look, battled through snow and ice to lend a hand and who show interest from afar.

To each and everyone of you, we are extremely grateful and hope you have a very happy Christmas and fabulous New Year.

The picture is of the new Brahan Golf Club flags which have been very kindly given by friend in the USA. They arrived at the end of October and look amazing. I can't wait to see them out on the course.

Family Cesspit Project Part 2

Having moved the various concrete beams, Jon and Alisdair set about removing the first few rows of breeze block. They wanted to do this so that the top of the walls would be covered by a reasonable depth of soil and therefore not visible when grassed over. The pit had been well constructed and this proved to be the toughest job but they worked out a system using a lump hammer and pickaxe. We were all quite amused when Jon was splattered by a brick dropping into the depths of the solid tank. Alisdair saw it coming and I have never seen him move as quickly!

Continuing the recycling scheme, the concrete beams were layed across the entrance to the garage which had become very muddy.

Jon filled in the pit with some of the rubble from the shower block. The soil that had been dug out of the ground originally was piled to the side of the pit and was used too. Jon intends to make a grass bunker feature hence the depression.

So that was our holiday project and we hope you have found it informative.

Family Cesspit Project Part 1

On our visit to Scotland in October we were keen to help out again and Jon suggested that filling in the cesspit would be a fun project. This was located in the first fairway alongside the remains of the shower block.

After a quick lesson on cesspit design....the waste goes into a tank where solids settle out. Liquids flow into another tank from where they run out into a soak away and eventually the ground. Periodically the solids need to be taken away. When we started the excavation Jon had located the soakaway but wasn't sure where the liquid/solids tank was and if it had been emptied.

The first task was to clear away the fencing and all the overgrowth around the area.

That done, we uncovered a breeze block lined pit divided into three sections, the soakaway, liquid and solid tanks. To everyone's relief, the latter had been emptied. The pit had been capped with concrete beams and the picture shows Alisdair and Jon removing one from over the solid/liquid tanks ready for loading into the Cushman truck.

Keen as always to recycle as much material as possible, Jon and Douglas (the digger) removed several cubic metres of large gravel from the soakaway.

The final job before the area could be filled in was the rescue of four frogs from the liquids tank. Jon very bravely climbed down into the pit to scoop them into a bucket before Claudia released them by the stream.

We also found a fork, toothbrush, orienteering punch, batteries and various other rubbish which we disposed of properly.

To be continued