Newcastle

Community mission

It’s a CLASSIC!

6 GoodGymers made their way to help the Urban Green Newcastle in Newcastle.

  • Liz Bennett
  • Tanya Johnson
  • Debbie English
  • Newcastle runner
  • Thomas Mather
  • Sam Gittings
 
Sunday, 6th of February 2022
 
Led by Newcastle runner

It was a classic task for six GoodGymers today as Tom, Sam, Debbie, Tanya, Liz and I joined Urban Green’s task owner Mike, with his colleagues Mason and Madeleine, together with regular Urban Green and former GoodGym volunteer Andrew. It was fortunate that there were so many of us today, as when Mike described what was in store for us it seemed like a Sisyphean task! Mike explained that a small area at a crossroads in the paths in Kenton Park is being used as a cycling obstacle course. However, parks across the city have been granted quite a sum of money to plant lots of pollinator plants, so there needs to be a deterrent to these adventurous cyclists. Hence we had to move huge rocks from one part of the park to this future flower-bed to block the way through and over it. I was reminded of the strongman competition, Atlas Stones, and it certainly seemed like we had the weight of the world on our shoulders to move them! But of course, our hardy team was undaunted and immediately set to the task, with Tom securing an early success in getting one of the stones into a wheelbarrow and into place. We all worked like Trojans, some of us clearing overgrown brambles away to allow the others to loosen the stones from where they had been embedded for years (deceptively big like icebergs!) and transfer them to their new home. Some lateral thinking was required and Mike used his van with a rope around the rocks to drag them into place - it took quite a few attempts and some guidance from behind to get the hang of the technique! We finished off with a good old fashioned litter pick and I hope you’ll agree that our Herculean efforts were successful in completing this task of epic proportions!

Report written by Newcastle runner


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