A GoodGym Ipswich First on Good Friday

Five Ipswich GoodGym-ers met at the Bridge Wood carpark entrance to Orwell Country Park for Ipswich's first Community Mission. Andrew and Eleanor were first to start work even before the official start! They'd arrived at the meeting point by bike and found the bike stands overgrown with stinging nettles. These were quickly ripped out and bikes were locked-up. Everyone else arrived promptly and Andrew explained the task.

The Stour and Orwell walk is a 42-mile walk from Felixstowe to Cattawade and Manningtree, around two of the most beautiful estuaries in East Anglia. It is promoted by the Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Team. We weren't planning to tackle the full 42-miles in the ninety minutes available; instead the task was to check the waymark signs and clear the path where necessary on a section from the meeting point towards Ipswich. We were also taking the opportunity to litterpick on behalf of Rivercare.

Armed with gardening gloves, secateurs, litter pickers and bin bags, we also had a map showing where the waymark signs should be and a list describing them. Eleanor took charge of map reading, Alex was reading the descriptions of where the signs should be and keeping track of which we'd seen whilst Andrew was recording any that were missing . Adeline and Steve were chief litter-pickers.

The woodland area is well maintained by Ipswich Borough Council's team of Park Rangers and so with no path clearance required and little litter needing picking, the initial section through the Bridge Wood provided a good opportunity to enjoy the woodland, admiring the trees and bluebells whilst checking the signs as we went. There were a couple of points at which we weren't 100% sure which direction the path should take, so Andrew will report these back to Neil at the AONB Team.

As we reached the Orwell, spectacular views awaited. We continued towards the Orwell Bridge. About half-way between the wood and the bridge we came across the remnants of a fire with a lot of litter around it. Steve and Alex put in a great effort to tackle this, quickly filling-up their bin bags. As we approached the bridge there was plenty more litter to be picked. The secateurs also got their first use as a tree's branches were drooping over the fencing and obscuring the waymark. We made it up the bridge, collecting lots more litter on the way and then looked out to enjoy the view down the Orwell before marching back to the meeting point.

We deposited the bags of litter by a bin and almost immediately an Ipswich Borough Council Park Rangers van appeared to collect the litter! The ranger thanked us for not filling up the bin with our finds; they prefer to see them left available for use with full bags by the side. He also asked that if we have lots of litter that we call them so they can prioritise collecting that.

With the five Ipswich GoodGym-ers having earned their Community Mission Capes, celebratory hot cross buns were shared. These seemed to be enjoyed as they were wolfed down so quickly the photographer only managing to get a photo of the final scraps! We hope this will be the first of many Ipswich GoodGym Community Missions - it was an enjoyable and productive way to get started.