Welcome to Jodie, Julia, and Wojciech for your first GoodGym session!!

Today we were at Gorse Hill Studios community allotment, otherwise known as "Da Ruff Patch", to give the area a thorough weeding and clear up for others to use it and for growing the wide range of food already there.

Julia and Wojciech did a sterling job in the polytunnel, clearing out all the bindweed along one side and weeding around the tomatoes, beans, and basil (although one is now in a separate pot...) to leave it looking almost unrecognisable. After a long spell of warm weather the plants had taken off, with some growing toward the roof! A few frogs and caterpillars were found, photographed, and rehomed.

Jodie and Fanette concentrated on some of the raised beds to give the beans, carrots, kale, and salad some breathing space from the relentless bindweed, while Sanjeev took on the bindweed on the fence and many of the weeds along the border closet to the allotment entrance. Peter and Ben hacked away at whatever shouldn't be there, including lots of discarded metal and wood, lots of brambles, horsetail, bindweed, and sticky weed to free up the back corner while preserving the growing pumpkin and/or watermelon.

Very productive session with many hands making light work and lots of therapeutic and mindful weeding for the super seven. Time flew by and looking forward to being back again over the summer!

Another Manchester park ticked off the bucket list this evening with a litter pick in Heaton Park today! While much of the UK was baking, we had a nice evening with a gentle breeze for a nice stroll in the park while clearing up any dropped litter and discarded waste.

The magnificent seven: Peter, Gaynor, Fanette, Scott, Victor, Esteban, and Ben donned their gloves (some were leftover lab gloves admittedly) with a few litter pickers and bag rings to share around to scour the park following Parklife over the weekend.

While we had a map showing litter hotspots, the park was surprisingly clear, albeit we couldn't access the Papal Fields with the Parklife hoardings still up, but we still filled a grand total of 13 litter sacks with a couple of laughing gas cannisters. We met Steve from Prestwich Pickers too, also out for a stroll and a litter pick, and made friends with some members of local wildlife, including Highland cows, rabbits, squirrels, plus a few birds. Lots of thanks from those in the park (including a few cyclists and a running group).

We'll be back in a few weeks for some balsam bashing (there was plenty of that around...) so sign up if you'd like to go back for some more active volunteering in Heaton Park.