You can Glebe the Moss On

It was a momentous evening - the return of the GARLAND OF JOY!

For the first time since the start of the pandemic we resurrected the Garland of Joy last night, and the first recipient was Jane to celebrate her 10th Good Deed. Well done Jane! There was some chat about passing it around to make up for all the missed Garland wearing over the last 2 years, so send in your petitions/applications if you've missed out on a garland-worthy milestone.

Iffley Glebe is one of Iffley village’s most important open spaces, playing a vital role in maintaining the rural atmosphere of Iffley within it's city setting. The field is full of wildflowers each summer and the ancient hedge across the field provides birds with nesting places, and insects and berries for food. At night the glebe is an important hunting ground for bats and owls. The stone wall surrounding the site has a lot of weeds growing in it which, although pretty, need clearing regularly in order to keep the wall in good condition. That was one of our tasks for the evening, as well as some (very careful) pruning back of tree branches in the corner of the site - being sure to check for any signs of nesting birds before chopping.

It turns out 25 pairs of hands makes light work of weeding walls and pruning. Despite some minor traumas (spiders, stinging nettles), snickering over childhood names for galium aparine (aka...sticky-willy), and not quite resisting the urge to stick goose-grass on anyone's back (thank you Samantha, in an hour we had stripped the main wall along the Glebe of the worst of it's weeds inside and out (not the moss though!), and made a good start along the two side walls too, although some of the ivy proved extremely tenacious.

The cold wind meant there was no hanging around after the group photo - we were straight away off running, taking the scenic route back along the Thames Path past Iffley Lock.