making light work in the dark

Arriving at the Sprowston community Hub for the second task of the day, it was heavily pouring with rain and quite dark to navigate to the task location with many puddles and mud to avoid. Definitely time to start wearing hi-vis and a head torch! Stumbling along the grass in the dark and with the light of the greenhouses shining in the distance, I could hear the familiar voices of Goodgymers who had just finished the first session. “A bit dark isn’t it?!” one Goodgymer shouted over. It was so dark I could only just make out who said it. Although the figure was very tall, so it could only be Darren.

Todays task would be inside the large greenhouses, so masks were needed! Congratulations were said to both Jonathan (for his 50th good dead) and Mark (his 25th) with Elizabeth kindly supplying a 50th celebration badge! There was to be no celebratory visit to the pub afterwards this time though.

With Kathryn and Elizabeth already busy with their tasks, varnishing wood and painting a shelving unit, Mark, Jonathan and Elliot (wearing his black Goodgym t-shirt for the first time) headed to the back of the polytunnel to have their tasks described to them by the task co-ordinator and very specific tasks they were! They were to remove and separate lavender from a huge pot and transfer them individually to other pots. The old soil was to be recycled for growing strawberries. They were then to create two new pots with layered bulbs of Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths and Crocus’. Elliot’s head torch and spare garden gloves came in very handy!

There was a panic in the greenhouse though as Kathryn accidentally dropped some paint on her running gear. Hopefully it washes out!

With the two new pots completed, there was plenty of time left to then complete the next task which was to remove two hydrangeas from a huge pot and transfer them separately to new pots. That was soon done and with everyone having competed their tasks but with 10 minutes to spare, and feeling like school pupils getting to leave class early, we waited for clarification from the task co-ordinator if we could leave. He gave the thumbs up and off we went before the school bell rang!

There was still time for one more hair-raising moment. With it being so dark outside, Jonathan slipped on a huge pile of mud and what seemed like a certain slip and slide into a mud bath and with flashbacks of the roller blading social earlier in the year, he somehow managed to maintain balance this time and stay upright, but at what cost? Cutting his finger a bit on a brick wall.