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!

I met Claire and the friends of Kelsey Park this morning for a gardening task. We were tasked with removing a whole bunch of nettles that have been taking over this part of the park.

We were given permission to tackle the nettles aggressively! And we took this to heart! Time flew by very quickly while getting advice on my boiler issues, and catching up with Claire on her trip to the mumbles in Wales. Before we knew it, we had cleared a whole lot of pesky nettles!

A few war wounds to take care of this evening-antihistamine here are you?

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!

A lovely morning with the Friends of Kelsey Park and our GoodGym team to help clear out lots of brambles and invasive ivy. We survived the 10am downpour and got lots cleared! Well done Team!

Our first volunteering session at Penge East Community Centre got off to a great start when we were greeted by a very friendly cat and an excellent selection of garden ornaments (see photos).

Once we'd all assembled, Gill set us to work cleaning the centre's windows, which had got quite cobweb-by. Many hands made light work of this task and we managed to wash, rinse and dry all the windows and doors (inside and out!) in less than 45 minutes. Speedy work team!

Thanks to everyone who gave up their Sunday afternoon to volunteer and I hope we can organise more tasks with PECC in the future.