This evening we returned to the magical space that is Marston Forest Garden. We were greeted by Isobel who gave a pitted history of the site for our newbies and outlined the tasks. The name of the game today was gentle movement. Gardening in 30 degree heat and all that!!

We split into 3 groups. One tackled brambles in the herb circle, one hoiked out armfuls of Michaelmas Daisies from around some rayher drought-stricken raspberries, and Joel and Muireann chopped and sieved compost ready for use!

Watermelon from Isobel was a welcome and refreshing addition to the task!

We'll be back here for a weekend session on 9th August so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Welcome to David and Matthew. Thank you for joining us this evening!

The weather was a suitable metaphor for this evening's session; warm summer sunshine interspersed with heavy downpours. Up on Hinksey Hill, with wonderful views of the dreaming spires, we were exposed to all the weathers. Our task was digging / pulling up ragwort in collaboration with our friends at Oxford Preservation Trust.

It's a fantastic plant for wildlife, with yellow flowers beloved of bees, butterflies and moths, and it provides a home for over 200 species of invertebrates. Yay. It can also kill horses and other livestock. Boo. Seven of us dug and pulled, including Chris on his first GoodGym session. Together, we extracted enough deadly stems to fill a builders' bag.

The rain nearly missed us but we were treated to a lovely rainbow as we shouldered out tools and set off home.

*What do you do when the Met Office suggests a 95% chance of rain and you have a litter pick and outdoor pizza planned? *Answer: a speed litter-sweep, quick dip in the Thames (ok, that was only the spaniel) and head off in search of pizza under a roof.

Port meadow was surprisingly clean given our recent sunny spell (well done, Oxford!) but eagle Goodgym eyes still managed to retrieve a small haul of bottle tops, cigarette butts, miscellaneous pieces of plastic, a dirty sock and what looked like a false finger nail. Every little helps and hopefully a small but worthwhile contribution to keeping Port Meadow a beautiful place to relax on a nice summer's day. And we did get our pizza.

Welcome to Goodgym Alice!!