On Friday the super college students from the City of Glasgow College returned to Carmunnock conservation village to complete their path project.
The students were very keen to return this week to finish off the job they had started two weeks ago. Along with the usual suspects (Chloe, Callum, Sam and Ryan), the super college group were also joined by Orkney, Annalise and Sean this week. Orkney and Annalise quickly volunteered to start putting the Type 1 into the wheelbarrows for the group to transport to the site and soon everybody was working hard.
The group again showed great determination (and muscles) by bringing all the material up to the path site by hand. This involved carrying all of the timber required for the boardwalk and shifting the remaining one tonne of type 1 stone and whin dust. The group carried this task out without complaint and then helped lay the different path layers.
The whole of the group worked hard on the path and after helping construct the formation layer and the base layer previous weeks, they were finally ready to see the completion of their good work by putting down the final surface layer of whin dust. This was not as simple as it seemed as all of the whin dust had to be carried up to the site. Below you can be see the hard working faces of Sean, Callum and Sean.
The group continued to assist the Path Skillz team by defining the edges of the path whilst the whacker plate compacted all of the material to make a smooth, durable path. The difference the students have made can be highlighted in the before and after pictures below.
This however, was not the end of the day’s construction duties. The main aim of the project was to replace the old boardwalk which had become damaged and was now a hazard for visitors to the site.
After removing the old boardwalk a few weeks ago and replacing the first section, the students and the local countryside ranger assisted Paths for All technical officer in completing the final two sections of the boardwalk. This did prove difficult at times due to large rocks being discovered under the path surface and a lot of water collecting on the path due to the recent heavy rainfall in the area. This however did not stop the group from completing the project on time and to a high professional finish. (Graeme would never leave a job until it was finished to his own high standards) 🙂
As you can see from the finished pictures the difference in standard is exceptional. This was commented on by local residents throughout the day who were very pleased to have had the students, ranger and the expertise of Graeme available to ‘create such a wonderful path that is befitting of a conservation village’.
Path Skillz would like to thank the students of Glasgow City College, their tutor Don and Gary Ralston the ranger for South East Glasgow for all their hard work over the last few weeks. The wait has been worth it to see the path finally completed to such a fantastic standard.
