How to Datura wolf in the rain with a root

5 faithful do gooders braved the blustery rain and cold temperatures to take on the mighty bramble at the Wolves Lane Horticultural Centre.

First up was Dashing Dave who let me chew his ear off about how great T&T Carnival was then came Sarah, Ali and the lovely Felicity – great to meet you. I’d just like to take a moment to congratulate Dawn for completing her first coach run. Keep up the good work and I hope the 10k training plan is working well for you. Another huge shout out to Chris. Chris achieved his goal target last week. Great to see people are improving their wellbeing levels by taking up regular GoodGym sessions.

Great to see people are improving their wellbeing levels by taking up regular GoodGym sessions.

So after a quick briefing we warmed up and took to the streets. Sarah volunteered to back mark while myself, Ali and Dave ran hard in search of this weeks light at the Wolves Lane Horticultural Centre. On arrival Clare was waiting just inside the gate sheltered from the rain, her first words were “I don’t know who’s crazier me for waiting around in the dark to let you guys in or you guys for coming out in this weather”. She then told me that when I had called ahead to confirm earlier that day she thought I was going to cancel; I of course replied “nooo” rain, sleet or snow we will always attend (as long as it’s safe of course). Where there’s work that needs doing we’ll be there and have fun while doing so - regardless of weather.

Where there’s work that needs doing we’ll be there

Dashing Dave and Ali were just a tad behind me and as they arrived I thought It would be a good idea for them to go right ahead and get stuck into the task while I waited for Sarah and Felicity who were just a tad behind DD and Ali. While I waited I caught up with Phil Clare’s husband and he told me all about their recent trip to Spain where they enjoyed walks in the hills, bird watching along with stumbling upon the odd wild orchid. I was in a warmer climate for just a moment before Sarah and Felicity arrived. Off we all went to join the others.

walks in the hills, bird watching along with stumbling upon the odd wild orchid

After walking through the dark garden centre past the reptile enclosure we slipped through the small gap between a Polly tunnel and a cabin like structure to gain entry to the task area. I was actually taken back by how much we had cleared in this space. When we started back in summer last year we were met with waist high grass and some seriously thick brambles. One or two more sessions here and I think we will achieve our goal to bring about a better view for the users of the café; which is at one end of the narrow long space we have almost cleared.

reptile enclosure

Dave (as ever) managed to yank up some pretty huge roots along with Ali, Sarah and Felicity tugging, yanking and clearing away three big bags of green waste. We once again made some headway on this task. Unfortunately we had reached that so packed up and got ready to leave. Before doing so we caught up with Clare and Phil inside one of the Polly Tunnels, they told us all about this huge plant with massive sweet smelling flowers that was housed in the tunnel. The plant is called a Datura. If touched you can lose feeling in your fingers and if eaten it can kill you - nice. Looked and smelled beautiful though. As we left the task we of course had a round of high fives before our run back toward HQ. With Ali jetting off ahead to make her dinner date the rest of us headed back to HQ at a steady pace for our warm down and stretches.

lose feeling in your fingers and if eaten it can kill you

Until next week folks – stay good, keep fit and look out for the light