Sting It On

I returned for a second week of Himalayan Balsam clearance at Handsworth Cemetery, being joined by Ryan on this occasion, who ran all the way here and back. It was just as satisfying this week, although there was the additional difficulty brought by encountering nettles and brambles as we went deeper into the area that had been overrun by the undesired plant. This was especially the case for Ryan as he was wearing shorts. We were joined by half a dozen extra volunteers and made fantastic progress in a couple of hours, almost removing all trace of the Balsam and clearing an area so big, it went further than the before picture from last week could even take in, I had to take an additional after photo to see where we had got to. Talking of pictures, I had worn my Goodgym sweater and posed for the pictures sporting it, while telling Ryan about the competition I had won it in. Josie told us that it will be an ongoing battle to eradicate the Balsam from the graveyard, possibly taking another three years of removal to get rid of it for good, and hopefully we'll be there to help achieve this goal.