Today’s adventure with the Friends of Ray Mill Island was less “gym” and more “DIY Olympics.”

• 🚗 Cardboard chauffeur duties: We liberated a car stuffed with cardboard and wood, proving that sometimes the toughest workout is just unloading.
  
• 🛖 Shelter building (spectator sport): A collapsible shelter sprang up thanks to others’ handiwork—my role was more “cheer squad” than “construction crew.”
  
• 🌱 Groundwork genius: We laid cardboard across the nursery ground, giving weeds their eviction notice and future plants a fighting chance.
  
• 🪵 Wood whispering: Sanding timber for tree signs—because even trees deserve a bit of spa treatment before getting their nameplates.
  
• 🎨 Painting (artistic abstention): Brushes were wielded, but not by me. I left the creative flair to the painters.
  
• 🔨 De‑nailing duty: Nails and screws were prised out of old wood, recycling it into two shiny new workbenches for the nursery. Who knew carpentry could feel like treasure hunting?
  

What a fantastic turnout at Ray Mill Island (RMI) today. 6 Goodgymers joined 11 Friends of RMI volunteers and tackled a range of jobs.

One group, including Carys, set off to identify trees and paint signs to identify them, whilst Mick continued his work on the mid path, moving the stones into place. Whilst Sheila and Christine started out weeding the rockery, Ed fixed a new sign to the mural and then joined Jen and the rest of the group with weeding the proposed nursery area.

By the end everyone was helping in the nursery area, apart from Mick who continued flexing his muscles moving the rocks around.

The two hours flew by with lots of progress made.

Mick, Nivi and myself were joined by Nivi's daughter and three other Friends of Raymill. Between us we cleared the beds of leaves, weeded out more of the invasive Winter Heliotrope, dug some more of the rockery and repainted the bubbles on the path.

Jen and Sheila, having just been promoted to Lead Rangers, led today's session at Ray Mill Island for the first time. We had 7 volunteers, some of whom had their own projects to work on, but also some new volunteers. We worked on trying to weed the invasive Winter Heliotrope out of the rockery by the Vintage Boys sculpture. At one point Jen had a Ladybird in her hair, and as Sheila tried to gently remove it, we thought it may have fallen inside Jen's Goodgym jacket. Whilst trying to check it wasn't trapped, Jen was delighted to find a secret pocket inside the zip. It made her day! The session finished with a wheelbarrow full of weeds and a clearer rockery

Sheila and Mick helped out at Ray Mill Island in their continuing effort to improve the island for both humans and wildlife. Alongside other volunteers, Sheila did some cutting back of the herbaceous perennials whilst Mick tackled the bed in front of the cafe, removing the pampas grass. He dusturbed a cute little toad, which will hopefully find another safe place to overwinter. A good productive session with lots of volunteers

Roberta and Sheila met with another volunteer, Tracy, at Ray Mill Island to continue work on the restoration of the 'Maiden with Swans statue which had been in a bit of a sorry state. Over the last couple of days, work had been completed to stabilise and strengthen the base, and start painting the structure. The 3 of us sanded down the remaining parts of the statue, getting into all the lumps and bumps, crevices and cracks. We gave her a good brush and then Tracy applied acetone to giver her a final clean and provide a good bonding surface. Then Richard, the artist carrying out the restoration, took over and did the final coating. It was a lovely project to be part of, and all credit to Richard Grant for carrying out the restoration in a mere 3 days with only amateurs to help. There were so many positive comments from visitors to the Island - the statue now looks as new, and will look great for years to come