We Tried But There’s Snow Way We Beat the Balsam This Time!

We got ten again! Another bumper turnout for GoodGym Huddersfield for a session of litter picking, doc docking and balsam bashing on Snow Island.

Whether it was the clement sunny evening or the prospect of some more balsam bashing, the GoodGym crew were out on force last night. Ten of us ran the 2K to Snow Island for an hour of wild gardening on this newly created wildlife site. Local conservation group Greenstreams have recently been busy all along the Huddersfield section of the River Colne, improving access and making sites more pleasant for people and wildlife. As part of this work a new pathway has been opened up on Snow Island, which is not actually an island at all but a bend in the river, sort of giving the area the impression of an island. Anyway GoodGym has adopted the site and has pledged to visit a few times a year to keep it maintained and looking tidy.

Greenstreams have also recently installed some picnic benches in the area and being next door to a large student hall of residence these see their fair share of use as a venue for student barbecues and parties. In fact as we arrived last night a group were taking advantage of the good weather and well into cooking an impressive array of food on a large kettle type barbecue. A selection of meats, whole fish and various vegetables were smoking away on the grill, very impressive....no cheap burgers or dodgy sausages here!

Surprised as they were to see 10 red-shirted runners rock up, the students understandably didn’t seem keen to share their fare, so we set to work around them on our mission of making the island a prettier plan to be. Ben Godfrey and Mark Donnelley grabbed the spade I had secreted on site earlier in the day and were soon docking the doc plants from the wildflower meadow. This was hard work involving digging down into the hard earth to remove the plants roots and all. Meanwhile Kati Law and Wendy Redmire grabbed some bin bags and commenced with litter picking, whilst the remainder of the crew, Louise Galvin, Helen Redford, Vicki Knight-Phillips, Peter Phillips and Heather Wilshaw Jones headed down to the riverside for a spot of Himalayan Balsam bashing. I of course fulfilled my usual role of running round issuing orders and generally getting in people’s way as I stopped them working to pose for photographs.

Sixty minutes later we were done and Snow Island was looking a little better, almost all of the litter was picked, a fair few docs were removed (slightly too many actually, as Heather who had stung herself on the copious nettles was looking for a doc leaf and couldn’t find one). The Balsam was bashed, but to be fair wasn’t beaten. This invasive species is so prolific on the site I think it will take a hundred GoodGymmers nearly as many visits to totally eradicate it. However every little helps and we had done a bit.

After posing for the obligatory group photo by the newly installed Snow Island sign we waved goodbye to the student barbecuers and ran off hoping that after all our hard work they would be taking their rubbish home with them. We ran an alternative 2K route back taking us along Huddersfield narrow canal and via the university where we had chance to admire the architecture and impressive cantilevers on the almost finished Barbara Hepworth Building which will House the Art & Design faculty come September.

Thanks to all of the crew for your efforts last night, we will return to Snow Island at some point to battle with the Balsam once again.

Don’t forget folks that due to a Huddersfield Town football game we shall be meeting at Leeds Road playing Fields next week and that following the task we be popping across the road to the bowling alley for a GoodGym Huddersfield Social. If you are planning on bowling please sign up here so Kati knows how many to book for.

One more thing before I go, Kati has kindly created a wonderful GoodGym Superhero cape for GoodGymmers to wear on he occasion of their 50th good deed. What better incentive could you have for continuing to rack up your good deed totals. Thanks Kati.....I can hardly wait!