We came, we sawed, we conquered

It was a bumper evening of celebration for GoodGym Richmond, as not one, not two, but THREE of our fantastic members were reaching milestones... T had reached her 50 good deeds on Saturday, and was joined on that number by Adam this evening. And Salwa got her wings, reaching 100 good deeds with tonight's community mission!

In scenes reminiscent of the Beforetimes, Monika, Salwa, Jane and JP met up on Richmond Green for a light warm-up and then ran to the mission, picking up T along the way. It felt great to be running with others again, and was a reminder of what we've been missing as social distancing measures have made running in large groups impossible during lockdown :-(

The evening's mission involved meeting our friend Ken at the Petersham Farm Stables for a spot of arboriculture - cutting down unwanted trees in the wooded areas between Petersham Road and Star & Garter Hill. Before we got going we congratulated our 50 and 100 heroes, with T starting the evening with the 50 Deeds sash (later handed over to Adam) and Salwa donning a very fetching pair of gold angel wings.

Ken took us through a short lesson in maple identification to make sure we knew the right kind of trees to remove: the Norway ("NO WAY") Maple and Sycamore were our enemies (while the Field Maple to grow) - and then showed us to the open boot of his car where he had proudly stacked a range of loppers and pocket-saws, all brand new.

This task was very much a case of "less is (Syca)more" as these trees grow rapidly and block out the light needed by other species, very much doing (Syca)more harm than good - they are no Sycamore Mr Nice Guy that's for sure. At first we were worried we might have bitten off (Syca)more than we could chew, but out came the good old GoodGym spirit, and without (Syca)more ado, we got stuck in. Ahem, sorry.

The differences between the species were actually quite subtle so it took a while to be sure we were picking the right trees, but the very useful PictureThis app was a major help and soon (Syca)more were coming down than you could shake a stick at (sorry). We picked our way through bramble-ridden undergrowth, hunting down our prey and then bringing them down with our trusty loppers or, when the trunk was thicker than a thumb, sawing them down with the pocket-saws. In some places, Norway Maples had been treated with chemical herbicides, so we went in to clear them away.

Eventually we made our way up to the Star & Garter driveway, and felt pretty pleased with the job we had done. We arranged ourselves in social distancing formation on some steps for a group photo with our heroes front and centre, then jogged/walked/cycled back to town for a pre-arranged gathering at the White Cross to celebrate those achievements once again. While numbers on the mission had been restricted, it was "the (Syca)more the merrier at the pub (sorry, last one, promise), and we were over the moon to see some faces we hadn't seen in a while, with guest appearances from Mark & Jenna and Jay, among plenty of others who came along to hang out in the sunshine.

To sum up, a great community mission, with great achievements and a whole load of great people :-)