On Wednesday we were asked to help the Oxford Preservation Trust with work at Iffley Glebe.

GLEBE:
noun 1. HISTORICAL a piece of land serving as part of a clergyman's benefice and providing income.

We had a few tasks to take care of:

• Maintaining the ancient wall by weeding all the little plants that start growing in the crevices and end up damaging the wall structure. There were also nettles, sycamore and cottoneaster growing in and beside the wall which needed cutting back or pulling out. This will enable a proper assessment of the wall for repairs to be undertaken.
• A walk around the meadow, moving dead wood on the grass to the edges of the glebe so that as much as possible can be cut.
• Lopping down low hanging branches of trees overhanging the field, so that the tractor can get as close as possible when mowing.

Once suitably covered in bug repellent we set to work, whizzing through the list in record time. The run back to base was a delight, taking in the Thames path, but could have been improved by inhaling slightly fewer midges!

Thanks to Ben for the report title!

After our December endeavours shifting many bulk bags of sand for Botley Primary School, yesterday we were back to shovel and rake shingle.

The school are rejuvenating their inner courtyard into a more usuable space, both for children and teachers, but as it's surrounded by corridors and classrooms it was a logistical puzzle to work out how to get the gravel/shingle from the delivery point into the courtyard. With a solution found (a pallet truck), we were called in to lend extra hands to the task.

In less than an hour and a half our team of 7 GoodGymers and 4 school volunteers managed to get 9 bulk bags of shingle shifted into the courtyard, shovelled and barrowed around the space, and beautifully raked to an even finish.

Many hands make light work of a big task!

With the clock change to BST on the horizon we made an early start to get as much light as possible for our Wednesday task at Makespace.

We had a task list to try and get through, and did really well on it - many hands can work magic in a short time.

We hefted pallets, weeded raspberry canes, shovelled leaf mould, cleared the compost area of weeds and rubbish, watered thirsty plants, and started sanding down the picnic benches. As a lovely post-task bonus we had a twilight run over Port Meadow (where the bats were dancing around) and along the canal.

Welcome to GoodGym Joe!

In a totally opposite experience to the previous quiz, this one was very speedy and we'd finished in 90 minutes. No repeating questions and having a break after each round at the Jude! We didn't come first or second, and none of the other results were announced, so let's just pretend we were obviously in third place. Poppy the dog gets an honourable mention, despite her lack of question-answering.