Manchester Students do it again. Oct/Nov 2009

Added: Nov 4, 01:43 PM

By Keith.
I really love my job. The best bits for me are working with the volunteers on site, and getting to meet lots of interesting people from many walks of life.
I especially enjoy the residential weekends, where we get to hang out with them, share food, stories and games and cement friendships which have a firm foundation set in co-operation and with mutual aims.
I am moved to write a website article about the Manchester Student weekend though because it was such a pleasure to meet such an enthusiastic and thoroughly lovely bunch of people.
Thanks must go out to Adie, who started the tradition 3 years ago, and to all those who have helped to keep it alive, including Brid and Alex and this year Laura (who unfortunately didn’t come) and Jenny and others I probably don’t realise played important roles.

This years event was, I think, our most international in terms of diversity of nations represented. I counted an American, 2 Poles, a Palestinian, 2 Irish, a Hungarian, a Swede, a Swiss and a bunch of English.

We had great weather on Saturday, and couldn’t drag the students away. Saturday night was full of games, laughter and song – one highlight was the Internationale sung in Chinese!
On Sunday, 13 people missed the bus to the site, and we decided to hitch hike.
Once we had decided to do it, and buddied up, making sure every body was certain where we were to meet, we stuck out thumbs and all got lifts in about 5 minutes flat.
Most people, all bar three, actually arrived before the bus we had missed!
The weather was less accommodating in Sunday morning, but a few worked away without complaint and were joined later by the others, fortified by tea and biscuits.
We ended up, as we often do, in the pub, swapping stories and phone numbers.
It was really great to see some old friends and make some new ones to. I hope we’ll see you all out again sometime soon.
Hey! What are you doing between the 20-22nd November? Have you booked a place on the Treesponsibility Autumn Gathering yet?
Maybe see you there then……..

The photos below were pinched from Facecbook, and there are loads more if you follow this link.
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the captions are mine.

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