South Yorkshire DSWA

Wentworth Woodhouse Visit

In October 2026, we had a branch visit to the Wentworth Woodhouse gardens, and inspected the proposed site for us to do some rebuilding work.

This is on a dry stone wall in the Sunken Garden. We hope to undertake the job in the late Winter.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park Visit

In September, a number of us went to look around the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, by courtesy of the YSP management, as this has been our primary course site in 2026.

As well as seeing the sculptures, we were able to look at the walls we have built so far, and inspect the site for the next course.

Frickley Park - 2026

We are pleased to have been working at Frickley Park again this year.

In a couple of sessions in May and June, we built a long, low wall by a water feature, and repaired a wall in the wood.

Thanks to Frickley for their hospitality. We hope to be back to do more work next year.

Training Courses - 2026

Our 2026 training course programme is now close to completion.

We have run several courses so far this year at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and they have all gone well. We are looking forward to the October course, which should be a busy session with plenty of trainees.

Penistone Show - September 2026

We were once again invited to Penistone Show.

Building continued at the West end of the showground, and are now close to the end of that section.

The weather was windy, but we only had a few light showers until the end of the day.

Thanks in particular to Janis, Teresa and Mick, we had plenty of sign-ups for the October course, as well as significant interest in next year's courses.

Once again our thanks to the Penistone Show Committee, and of course our numerous visitors.

Owen Jones - Commemoration

In Summer 2025, we installed a plaque in tribute to our late and much respected member and instructor Owen Jones.

The plaque was built into a wall at Hoylandswaine, close to the stretch of wall where Owen last instructed on one of our training courses. Our thanks to landowner Tim Wood for permission.

The plaque had been inscribed by Andy Norman. It was installed by John Alston, with help from a couple of branch members.

RHS Display Garden - Wentworth Woodhouse

In 2025 the branch was asked to participate in building a dry stone wall round a display garden at the recent RHS Flower Show held at Wentworth Woodhouse.

Congratulations to all the participants, including branch members Rob Johnson and Gary Helliwell.