Re-Joyce

Runners from four corners of GoodGym (well, three corners - Tower Hamlets' Andy, Islington's Lucy, and Hackney's Cecilia and I - but wheres the pun in that?) ran through the streets of London to meet at the garden of Joyce for a mega weeding mission.

Joyce's garden is mainly paved, but tall weeds had grown up through the gaps in the paving slabs so the garden looked more like a wildflower meadow, without the flowers. In the center of the garden there is a large magnolia tree, with a table beneath it where Joyce likes to sit out on finer days. Joyce uses a walking aid now, so it was not possible for her to get to the table beneath the tree with the weeds having grown so high. They simply had to go. There were also a lot of other weeds and stinging nettles growing in the bedding around the sides of the garden, overtaking the roses and flowering plants that Joyce has been growing in her garden for many years.

It is always good to arrive at a mission and find all the tools you need there ready for use, and Joyce had everything we needed for the task. Secateurs, a saw, gloves, a spade, a strimmer; having enjoyed her garden for many years, Joyce had all the garden tools one might need. We all gloved up and got stuck in, pulling up the weeds between the paving, upsetting more woodlouse homes than I've ever seen in one place before, while some of us (those with long sleeves!) braved the dreaded stinging nettles. Andy had a go on the strimmer, which was mainly good for cutting the grassy tufts right down short and blowing all the leafy debris into a pile, Lucy got handy with a brush, sweeping all the bits up into manageable heaps, and I cut down a tree that had sneakily grown behind Joyce's back without her consent. "That was a gift from the birds" she said.

1 hour 45 minutes later and the garden was clear again. We had bagged up about six large bags of garden waste, the roses were visible again, and Cecilia found a young green grasshopper, which made my day. The table beneath the magnolia bush was also accessible, now, for Joyce to use.

There is a very large conifer tree growing in the garden, and Joyce told us about how, years ago, when she was a teaching assistant, a pupil had given her this conifer tree and it was only about one foot tall. It is now so large that you can chain a bike up to it.

On the whole, it was a really successful mission, and I would like to thank everyone for their hard work. Joyce is my coach so I look forward to many pleasant chats beneath the magnolia tree in the near future!