A Thorny Issue

Monday is Funday in Brent

Monday is Funday in Brent and despite Ellie being off sick (get well soon!) we were duly looked after by Goodgym’s resident Frenchman Axel Manzano.

The task today was another trip to visit the lovely Saidi at the Vale Community Centre. We had previously visited Vale to refresh their gardens and todays task was to clear some more weeds, collect rubbish and trim down an overgrown bush.

Nutella presentation for Laura

After a quick Nutella presentation for Laura for being top good deeder last month in Brent, we set off for the 3.5km journey to the Vale. Eight of us took a steady pace through Kensal Rise and Queens Park - still not sure about Sienna’s house - and once we got there Saidi showed us where we needed to work and once again trusted our green fingers to know how best to shape the area for the better.

Great work everyone

Gemma and Claire went to work trimming back the thorniest bush we had ever seen and various gloves were tried to keep from pricked fingers. Whilst Claire had some brand new secateurs, Gemma struggled with some slightly blunt loppers (I had to look up the official name for these!). Gabbi and I struggled with getting the thorny branches into the bin bags but we were up to the task and aside from the occasional yelp of pain (mainly from me - wrong gloves) we got all the trimmings bin bagged away. Whilst we had been dealing with this we nearly lost Bodil who had been busy clearing leaves and rubbish from under a large canopy of trees, Axel and Laura had weeded and turned a bed ready for some lovely plants and Ravi had been busy clearing all the messy work that we had been doing and generally doing a fantastic job of making the place look nice and tidy! Great work everyone.

Inaugural GG Brent drinks

With everything cleared and the temperatures dropping we headed back to Willesden Sports Centre and then a few of us decided that it was time for inaugural GG Brent drinks - thanks Bodil for suggesting drinks and Claire for recommending the pub!

Apologies for the lack of puns (Thanks to Claire for the title) - I’m just not as good as Ellie but she will hopefully be back next week (with double treats…we haven’t forgotten and we’ve added interest Ellie!)

Vive la Brent

Report by the only Pritesh