St Fillans Golf Club - 19th Oct

Our second last event of 2017 saw us heading West to St Fillans Golf Course for a one day event. We were asked to build a dry stone bench to commemorate Bert Morrison, a long time member of the course who lived on the grounds and was well loved by the club. Bert was also a keen dyker and built many of the walls seen around the course, so it seemed fitting that we would be building a dry stone feature in his memory.The site which was chosen sits atop a small hill on the nth hole, offering stunning views of the valley and Bert's cottage on the far side of the course. Within minutes of arriving we were greeted by a red deer cresting the hill next to us like something out a post card.The stone we would be working with was granite glacial boulders brought in from a local farm by the course.We were lead by Billy McCallum and joined by Gregor Smart, John , Malcolm Collins Trish Waite and her Border-Patterdale cross, Taz. With only one day to complete the seat, we quickly got to work digging our foundations. The ground was particularly boggy, so extra work was required to remove as much as possible before laying our first stones. However, after nearly losing Gregors boot down a mud filled void, we quickly sourced some gravel to act as a further soak away at the front of the seat.After a cup of coffee and a bacon roll, kindly provided by the club, we quickly reached seat height by mid day. While the roundness of the stone makes it harder to level, the size of the stone means you quickly gain height after only a few courses.By 3pm we were up to our final cope height on the back of the seat. The back sits a little higher than normal to provide more shelter from the wind due to the seat's exposed position.As Billy set about mortaring the copes, John took on the more difficult job of quality assuranceWith a final brush down we were finished! Not bad for  one day's work.You can see more photos of the project on our gallery.Let us know what you think, and if you'd like to find out more about the CSDSWA, feel free to get in touch.