GoodGym Stockport
Can't see the wood for the... ah, there's the path!
Friday 6th June
Written by Ben Foster
Ben joined Heaton Mersey Village Conservation Group with a taskforce kind of day down by the river. There were lots of other helpers, including corporate volunteers from Manchester Airport and other engineering companies plus several local residents and members (there are >380!) of the conservation group too.
The conservation group look after 33-ish acres of land around Heaton Mersey alongside the council, and today we were doing some work near Burnage Rugby Club on the river bank. Jo and Janette (?) were in charge.
Before getting started, we had a health & safety briefing and introduced to Mark, one of the Burnage Rugby Club owners, who could provide teas & coffees, bacon butties, or a combination of the two. We were all decked out in high viz and gloves, ready to take on the forthcoming tasks.
Darrell from the council provided a whole host of equipment including spades, litter pickers & bags, loppers, choppers, balsam bashing tools (they looked cool), plus several wheelbarrows to actually carry the items to the work site.
As a large group, we were split into two:
- A group to litter pick and balsam bash
- A group to clear the area near a wild pond
I joined the latter, wanting to help clear the weeds, grass, and overgrown brambles for people to enjoy the picnic benches and to access the pond boardwalk and information post. Little did I know how big a task it would be... Beyond the board walk was a WALL OF BRAMBLES that apparently used to be a path! Our mission was to clear this to make a path to the parallel one through the area. With lots and lots of chopping, lopping, clearing, raking, and strimming of the brambles, nettles, blackthorn, all while dodging a bee's nest, we managed to successfully clear a path that can now be used by the general public.
Alas, I didn't get a before shot... and my legs are somewhat stung and cut up due to the low hanging brambles... but it was a fantastic 3 hours with a proactive group of volunteers and look forward to helping out next time. I also missed out on the lunch as I had to get back into the lab to finish a Western blot and add some drugs to cells. Productive day all round.
Cheering on Beechwood runners
Sunday 18th May
Written by Laura Boldison
Laura and Irfan spent a hot sunny day in Manchester cheering on the runners taking part in the annual Great Manchester Run.
In particular, we had T-shirts and signs to support the runners who were fundraising for Beechwood Cancer Care, a charity based in Stockport who provides support to those affected by cancer.
The crowds were fantastic and we enjoyed looking at all the fancy dress costumes!
Shed loads of weeding
Tuesday 6th May
Written by Ben Foster
Big welcome to Nicole for their first every GoodGym session! Well done for your first outdoor run in a while and great to have you along for the task with What If? in Stockport. Look forward to meeting you again soon.
Following the warm jog from Life Leisure Avondale, we arrived at What If? with a few different tasks required. After introductions and hearing about the things What If? get up to, we donned gloves and grabbed some gardening tools to remove lots of sticky willy otherwise known as Galium aparine from their community garden.
Once we had filled most of their compost bin and watered some courgette seedlings, we turned our attention indoors to help out with the big shed sort-out to catalog and label all the gardening and decorating tools that had accumulated. Ranging from rakes to spades and forks, plus lots of pots and hand tools, we made a decent dent in the big sort-out, so hopefully things are a bit more organised for future use.
Nicole stayed for a bite to eat and chat with the What If? crew while Maimoona and Ben made their way home. We hope to be back again soon!
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