Tonight we teamed up with Emma from the Mitcham Hedgehog Project for a truly insightful mission: setting up tunnels to survey the local area for hedgehogs! After a quick brief, we dove headfirst into preparing the triangular tunnels. Painting each side of the A4 paper inserts with a mix of vegetable oil and charcoal ink was a real ink-genious method!
Then, we hedged our bets across six locations, taking turns to set up the dry cat food bait and securely pin down the tunnels to minimise any movement. It was a unique and un-fur-gettable session helping to protect our prickly friends and we learned a hedge-load about the local hedgehogs and the area! A huge welcome to Rita and congratulations on completing your first GoodGym task, and a big hello to Williams, who joined us from a neighbouring area. Great to have you along and hope to see you again soon.

After receiving a last minute call out for volunteers this morning I donned a hi-vis vest and joined the brilliant team at Morden Parkrun! Having been assigned barcode scanning duty, congratulating runners and making sure their efforts were scanned and delivered was a great way to spend Saturday morning.

Thanks to the past few days of dry weather, this week's group session was the complete opposite of our last soggy one - and just in time! The Wimbledon Guild community garden shed was in need of a protective coat, relying on those crucial rain-free days. So armed with brushes, we split into pairs and tackled each side in sections with a top down approach.

In less than 30 minutes, the first coat was done! This perfectly timed efficiency meant we could add a second coat for extra protection. What a brilliantly productive session!

2 large bags filled by 3 Good Gymers picking up all the litter left on paths to Deen city farm. Great to remove plastic and bottles harming the wildlife

Tonight, we helped out at Merton's Community Fridge with the post-distribution clean-up, and what a refreshing session it was! It was brilliant to see so many familiar faces back in action, and a huge welcome to Suja, who joined us for a trial after only recently hearing about us. Everyone pitched in, and we absolutely smashed through the jobs, leaving the Fridge sparkling tidy, as always! 💪 Great work, team!

Tonight, we returned to Mostyn Gardens in Merton Park to create a new border for the external bed (an area we previously helped clear of weeds).

Some of us were tasked with digging a trench. Thankfully (or maybe not, given the resulting mud! 😉), the weather had softened the ground (improved further by the downpour while we were mid-task!) making it fairly soft and easy for our spades to make an impression.

With wheelbarrows at the ready, a couple of the team log-ged some serious miles collecting the wood for the border, piling it up ready to be staked into the ground.

For those seeking a slightly lighter task, there was also some pruning of the plum trees to be done - perfect for branching out from the rain! Handy that we came prepared with our secateurs.

Once the trenches were dug, it was all hands needed to fill them with logs and replace the (by now) mud.

It was good to welcome a couple of GoodGymers from out of the area and also Mik to his first task - not the easiest or the driest, but hopefully enjoyable nonetheless.

We got even more done than anticipated and are certainly helping this garden grow into something very special!