A beautiful spring afternoon saw Nivi, Rachel, Christine, Anne-Laure and Sheila join the weekly work party at Ray Mill Island. Anne-Laure was keen to do raking of leaves to help expose the grass, and Nivi helped another volunteer paint tree signs. Meanwhile the others tackled the enormous Phormium plant which needs removing from the new nursery area.The team last week had done a good job of starting to dig it out, so our task was to try and finish the job. Armed with spades, loppers, a half-moon cutter and a pruning saw, we started attacking the plant. Some side shoots of the plant were saved for planting up to generate new plants. It was a tough old job, but we kept at it and eventually we were victorious, severing the plant from the earth.

Five GoodGymers put their gardening skills to the test planting tree saplings at Altwood School. The Woodland Trust donated the trees to increase biodiversity and to improve the school environment. After some discussion the dogwood, rosewood, rowan and hawthorns were planted along the fence borders and watered. Three crab apple trees were planted outside some classrooms to create some shade on the summer. A satisfying and productive evening!

We helped the lovely charity Alexander Devine get set for their big spring sale of chocolate stuffed little knitted chicks. The chicks, and some rabbits, llamas, hedgehogs, beetles, and a few other woodland creatures needed tagging.

So we set up a production line of tag builders, taggers and cutters. That lasted all of 5 mins! Soon we had multiple activities happening across the large table, but the speed of work was impressive!

A dozen pair of hands = 500 chicks tagged. Don't we love it when the numbers are so neat!

We finished off with some delicious birthday cupcakes made by our own baker extraordinaire Rachel to celebrate GGWM's 6th birthday. Chatter, laughter, hard work, competition and cake - a perfect GG mission!