Longer days, rising temperatures and April showers are an ideal time for sowing seeds and Cathy and Anita laid the groundwork for some fantastic summer flowers at GG Richmond’s ‘Three Pigeons Plot’ in Buccleuch Gardens, Richmond.

Cathy and Anita hit the ground running by picking and bagging litter, before starting on the task in hand: weeding out grass and sowing summer annual seeds at The Three Pigeons Plot.

After weeding out grass ( self-seeded from the adjacent lawn and frustratingly prolific ) they dug-in the first of our withy and wood ‘triffid’ plant supports and then planted sweet pea seeds around the base.

There was just enough time sow 2000 poppy seeds before finishing.

Extra GoodGym help was provided by GG Red Robin (who hangs around our compost heap), Steph (arriving early for the next session) , Sal ( strewing poppy seeds, re-seeding the ground) and Ken ( passing by on the way back from work and stopping to weed out pesky sycamore seedlings)

This evening started at Tap Tavern, as always, but with an added flourish as Area Activator Liz donned the wings to celebrate 100 GoodGym tasks! A blustery run along the riverside threatened to get the wings actually flying but the group arrived intact at Russell School, ready for action!

Following a very productive Sunday Community Mission at Russell School to carry out the first part of the task, tonight we laid the woodchip down and trampled it into position. With so many hands on deck, and leftover chippings, we were able to re-chip the nursery play area, tidy up the toys, remove some troublesome rubble and STILL find a little time to play on the climbing frames!

A last run back to the Tap completed the task, followed by celebratory drinks in the pub and a little look at the lovely team card made for Liz 😍😍😍

A sunny bank holiday Monday is an extra bonus reason to get out and do some good! Today's 'anywhere' litter pick was just the task.

A group arranged to meet at Old Deer Park to pick together (let Liz know if you would like to be added to the group to keep up to date!).

Beth battled an Easter hangover to pick up other people's mess. Steph got up early to clear up evidence in the street of the night before. Anita cleared up around Manor Road and reported fly-tipping to the council too. Amy was surprised to find Twickenham Green quite clean. Liz and her son tackled the local park and filled four disgusting bags.

Back to normal group runs next Monday, finally back on British Summer Time! ☀️

Cathy and Beth took to the streets of St Margarets to clear them of rubbish. There was plenty to get along the long streets, with such delights as poo bags, bottles of unmentionable liquids and a toy car. A nice chat was had and one resident thanked us for our work :)

Monika, Beth, JP and Cathy spent a sunny hour clearing litter from the Three Pigeons plot, Buccleuch Gardens, and surrounding areas to make the paths and land pristine. When starting, very little seemed to be there (hurrah!) but on closer inspection, more started to become apparent under the leaves and around the edges. JP seemed the most excited at finding new litter, with calls of 'ooh mayonnaise / crisp packet / BOTTLE' heard across the path. We had a nice chat about weekend plans, jobs and new prospects, before heading back to our respective roles, with Cathy continuing to clear the path back to St Margarets (with her own litter picker, no less - true dedication).