This time of year it's more about garden maintenance and today we needed to give the roses some attention. Dead-heading and making room for the buds still to bloom, there is still a beautiful scent in the air where the roses grow. There were a few scratched arms, but well worth the effort. After a cuppa and biscuits we were on our way.

After a last minute change of plan after our Task Holder had to cancel, we celebrated Dave's 500th Good Deed!

It was also a perfect introductory task for Ranjitha, who joined us for her second Good Deed this evening. She even found the obligatory pair of pants behind a bench!

After half an hour of picking up packaging and pruning bushes of sweet papers, we headed over to the Brewers Tap for a celebratory drink.

Nice work, everyone!

I cleared the cans, bottles and litter from the Street Garden.

I found a cool picnic bag full of headphones in the shrubs on my litterpick this morning. 🤷‍♀️

The grass on the wasteland at the top of Essex Road had been cut yesterday exposing all the rubbish. So I grabbed a bag and a picker and did a clean up. There was so much, I didn't get it all. Definitely worth another visit.

Today we were weeding along the top pathway and sweeping up the leaves and seeds that the recent winds had blown onto the ground. The Park was busy and we got lots of thanks and compliments about how lovely the Park was looking . It was dusty and thirsty work, so we enjoyed our refreshments more than usual sitting in the sunshine at the and of the session. We could definitely see the difference our efforts had made.

A warm welcome to Aditya (Adi) today his first Goodgym task at Victoria Park. We were weeding the rectangular beds along the long path today, removing bind weed, fallen leaves and the odd small branch. In the shade and with a lovely breeze, we were a large group of volunteers and enjoyed plenty of chats. We replaced some of the plants that had been blown away by the recent high winds, and others that had been nibbled by squirrels. The colours are really vibrant at the moment, and with it being the first day of the school summer holiday, it was lovely to see families in the Park enjoying all the amenities. After refreshments, we went on our way. I enjoyed a 99 icecream from the van in the Park on my way home.