Saturday’s task at Knaphill Lower School came with a welcome change — sunshine! With blue skies overhead, it was a perfect morning to get stuck into some outdoor volunteering.

The job for the session was helping prepare materials for the school’s bug hotel. A pile of branches needed cutting down into smaller lengths so they could be packed neatly into the structure and create plenty of cosy hiding spots for insects and other mini-beasts.

With cutters in hand, I set about cutting the branches into suitable lengths to be stacked and packed, gradually turning the pile into bug-friendly building materials ready to be added to the hotel. It was a slow but satisfying task, and one that will help create a great habitat for wildlife around the school grounds.

A productive morning and a great step towards making the bug hotel even more welcoming for its tiny future residents!

*Knaphill Lower School Restoration Project*

Another Saturday morning and another opportunity to help out at Knaphill Lower School Restoration Project.

Wayne, Julie, and Stephanie met Vicki and her husband at the school to see what Goodgym could help with.

The garden has changed alot since goodgymers have been coming, really starting to come together.

The first task was for Wayne and Julie to move some logs from one of the out buildings over to the new secret garden luckily we had two wheelbarrows that made light work of the this particular task 😀

Stephanie then arrived and was tasked with cutting some big branches into smaller sections for the new bug hotel 🐞

Once Wayne and Julie had finished putting the logs in place they joined Stephanie and together managed to cut various sizes of branches that were neatly put into the hotel, 🐜

the ground was damp but at least it was not raining and we even had a little bit of sunshine ☀️

Stephanie and Kirsty were back at Knaphill Lower School this week, cheerfully soggy but undeterred, helping the PTA continue the transformation of the outdoor space into something special for pupils to play and learn in. Our mission: support J, a Duke of Edinburgh participant, in planting 50 hawthorn wicks (that’s roots, for those of us who still think gardening involves guesswork and hope) to form a new hawthorn-lined hedge alongside the living hedge created by GG on previous tasks. we didnt quite manage to get all 50 into the ground, but honestly it was hard to count!

As ever, the project is being powered by the seemingly limitless commitment of Vikki and Mark, with son O firmly in the mix. Proof that community energy, much like hawthorn, thrives in all weather. Rain-soaked, muddy, and oddly satisfying: another GoodGym task well planted. 🌧 Well done Stephanie and Kirsty

What a wonderful task organised by Julie, who kindly provided all the paint, paintbrushes, pots, tablecloths and even drinks and snacks.

It proved to be a popular task as there was a good turn out from the Woking GoodGym gang to paint bird boxes for Knaphill Lower School. We were given a wooden bird box to unleash our creative painting talents. Becky and Anne shared a box, and went with a very practical camouflage design, as did Julie and Kirsty who went with a beautiful shade of blue plus a cheerful yellow sun.

Nadia did GoodGym proud by not only painting a colourful box but also bringing along a friend for January in the form of her mum who is a good painter as demonstrated by her berry design. Adam ran to the task now he is getting back into running in time to paint a colourful red and blue box.

Ola showed his creative talent by using masking tape for his design. Vicky from the PTA popped along to see our hard work and explained 20 bird boxes will be placed along a trail for the lower school children to try to spot them all.

Vicky's son picked Stephanie's as the the best painted bird box, which was well deserved, as she was able to combine a practical but stylish design of green leaves.