It was another busy morning at the Baby Bank. Chris joined the regular crew for the first time, and quickly got up to speed with the process of first checks on clothing donations. Sheila assisted her at first, but then joined Carol doing second checks. Karen was sorting the adult clothing, but as we worked, many more bags of donations were coming in. Plenty more to do next week!

Nine creative Goodgymers enjoyed a fun session up-cycling old baubles for the St Lukes Christmas tree festival. Small pieces of fabric were skillfully attached using plenty of glue to create 22 new and unique works of art. A relaxing way to spend a chilly evening! Our final session will be at the Green Skills library on Tuesday 17th November.

Some last minute situations meant that only two of us made it to Wessex primary this evening. Nevertheless, we made sure to rake up six bags worth of leaves to clear the pathway to the school gate, while darkness surrounded us.

Braywick Heath Plant Nursery needed some help to turn their overgrown yard into a car park for an event next month. Lots of weeds were growing up through the gravel, including shrubs and brambles. Anna and Sheila armed themselves with loppers, and quickly cleared the ground, pulling out weeds where possible. Some rosemary pruned from the hedge was saved for use in workshops to build bug hotels

Ms J's garden is really overgrown, so it was difficult to know where to start. So I prioritised work on the entrance path, to improve access for her carers. Bindweed and periwinkle were rampant across the path, so I cleared these to reduce the tripping hazard. The bindweed had completely covered several climbing roses, and pulling this all off also stopped it obscuring the window, so hopefully Ms J will now have more light in her kitchen. A rosemary bush provided some wafts of scent as I brushed past, a fitting reminder for Remembrance Sunday.

Sheila and Anne-Laure joined 5 other volunteers for another session at Ray Mill Island, building dry hedges. We started by cutting down all the dead stems and Buddleia branches from the area inside the dry hedge which we had built last year. All the cuttings were then used to rejuvenate the hedge and held in place with some newly-coppiced hazels. Once completed, we moved to our hedge still under construction and did some branch trimming ready for next week. Anne-Laure has now added the technique of pinning down the branches within the hedge to her skill set