A very satisfying and motivational task down at Cator Park!

Marco, Amy, Angela, Linda and Ria spent time on a variety of tasks to help the park ready for its Green Flag assessment in May!

The willow arch was watered, bollards sanded and re-painted, a generator even got used and time was spent trying to remove the remnants of an arson attack from one of the benches.

Good gym once again showing many hands make light work and I think we’d all love to see the park get the flag it so deserves!

Double gloves were the way to go for our task with the welcoming Friends of Kelsey Park this morning! We got straight to work in snazzy orange vests yanking up lots of stinging nettles, making sure to remove their sometimes very stubborn roots and also avoiding the bulbs and flowers in the area. The hori-hori knives proved useful again, and we discussed some possible culinary uses for nettles (tea / soup?) before instead opting to leave them in a pile to be collected after all. Oh, and Dani made easy work of dismantling a wooden fence in one go. Thanks everyone!

So much positivity in the air in Cator Park today as volunteers of all ages gathered to plant 600 saplings forming a Tiny Forest – the first in Bromley and the first nationwide to be funded by community donations. To add to the excitement, there was an ITV News reporter in attendance, spreading the word about the environmental value of urban forests and telling the story of the community’s success in funding this ambitious project, spurred on by shared outrage at last year’s illegal felling of mature trees on neighbouring land.

GoodGymers Angela, Tatiana, Louise and Linda helped get the first planting session of the day off to a smooth start, working with Earthwatch experts to prepare the tiny trees representing 18 native species chosen as suited to local soil conditions. With most of the planting being done by families who contributed to the fundraising, we decided the best use of GoodGym muscle was to move mulch around the site for distribution amongst the saplings. Good muddy fun in the sun!