Shift 3 of the Lantern Parade felt like a breeze! Angela and Jess stayed back from the previous shift to help (thank you!).

The seven of us working alongside the Norden Farm staff and other volunteers, made light work of the post-event clean up. After reclaiming lantern sticks from the public, we grouped them into batches of 10 per their colour. These were efficiently taped together and transferred to the library side of the road where a van was parked to load 'em up. We also helped gather discarded lanterns, remove signs from lampposts and Anne-Laure even did some heavy lifting to help the Stage crew.

Everyone - including task owner Kayleigh - was surprised at how fast things got done. The new high-vis vests courtesy Viv, got a good outing (and photographing) and we all walked away satisfied and happy to have been part of this joyful annual event once again!

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.

A jolly holly bunch of GoodGymers had a great time today at the sunny Braywick Nature Reserve foraging for festive foliage for the Age Concern wreath making workshop.

Our task owner from Age Concern was pine-ing for supplies for this year’s merry fundraiser and wreath guidance from Ranger Tom we were fir-ry happy to help.

We gathered plenty of conifer cuttings for bulk, then we found prettier clippings to really spruce up the wreaths. Ivy never seen so many lovely red berries and we even managed to reach some mistletoe.

Gillian was particularly efficient with the secateurs. You should’ve cedar!