🌱 (Haw)thorn in my side 🌳

☀️ 15 brilliant GoodGymmers met on a beautifully sunny (but deceptively chilly) evening for our group run. We all marvelled at the bravery of those in shorts and t shirts, and then realised they’d be contributing extra effort at the task to keep warm 🥶

🦸‍♀️ Speaking of marvelling, we were wowed to see Leanne at our group run, only a day after her heroic London Marathon effort, and looking incredibly fresh! What a superstar 💪

🥳 Vicky led the party pacers while we warmed up, chatting about our early baking/cooking memories. After some deliberation on how to make Angel Delight (definitely with cold milk rather than hot water!), it was time for Ed to lead the other running group and us cyclists to get pedalling 🏃‍♀️🚴‍♂️

🚸 We were heading back to St Aelred’s School where we’re continuing to help to develop their wildlife area. We quickly set to work, with one team carrying on the cutting back work 🌿

🌳 Another team were removing those pesky weeds that had already appeared around the new trees we’d lovingly planted last time. Once the weeding was done, it was time to shift and tip woodchip around said baby trees, to protect them from further weed invasions (🤞)

🌱 Meanwhile, Jenna and Lucy were spotting and rescuing potential self-seeded saplings to be saved, digging them up from any inappropriate growing places to be moved to safer soil. There was definitely a technique both to identifying and digging these plants (mostly hawthorn) so this was an impressive job done 🙌

👏 All too soon, it was time to down tools (though not before all our baby trees had a good thick layer of woodchip). We heard again about the difference our work is making to the school, especially in getting both children and parents interested and invested in the project (including a recent pupil-led litter-pick, which is pretty great). There’s lots more to be done so we’ll definitely be back 👍

📸 We posed for our group photo by a lovely meal then headed off in our different groups, meeting back at base to stretch and head home/to the pub 🍻

👌 Thanks everyone, it was a chilly one but I know the school really appreciated everyone’s efforts tonight 😁