We were 3 of 743 finishers at University Parks Christmas Day parkrun! A chilly but lovely start to the day ❤

This evening we returned to the magical space that is Marston Forest Garden. We were greeted by Isobel who gave a pitted history of the site for our newbies and outlined the tasks. The name of the game today was gentle movement. Gardening in 30 degree heat and all that!!

We split into 3 groups. One tackled brambles in the herb circle, one hoiked out armfuls of Michaelmas Daisies from around some rayher drought-stricken raspberries, and Joel and Muireann chopped and sieved compost ready for use!

Watermelon from Isobel was a welcome and refreshing addition to the task!

We'll be back here for a weekend session on 9th August so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Welcome to David and Matthew. Thank you for joining us this evening!

It is always such a treat to be back at Boundary Brook Nature Reserve. Helen always find us varied jobs to do and today was no exception.

We literally made hay whilst the sun shone.

A few helped with sycthing the meadow and the rest of us raked up the hay and trundled it to the ajoining allotments to be used by the plot-holders.

Along the way we avoided ant hills and wasps nests, teasle prickles and I was in awe of Megan and her ability to shift mounds of hay single-handedly!!

Katie and I debated whether we would be tip-top medieval peasants or whether we would be tried as witches.........

A glorious morning.

This evening, we returned to Aston’s Eyot, a 32-acre nature reserve with public access. It’s a GoodGym favourite, as it almost always involves scything and offers lovely views of the river!

We split into two teams to tackle different sections. Our tasks ranged from using posts to secure log seating and sawing branches to open up the viewpoints, to scything the pathways and lopping back overgrown greenery. Along the way, we enjoyed watching the rowers, kayakers, and swans pass by.

It was the kind of task where we could see the immediate impact of our work. We even got to test out one of the log benches at the end and admire the newly cleared space. We were really pleased to welcome Akshat for their first GoodGym session!