Meeting as usual at the Bridge House, all beaming from the sunshine, we had a brief chat about our favourite DIY tasks, which ranged from just the pure satisfaction of completing any job, to the complicated rewiring of electrical things (hot tip - take a photo of how it looked before you touched it!)

We jogged off for a little loop round the sights of Penge and back to Anerley, and peered in at the frogspawn in the little corner pond of the St Hugh's community garden.

Mark had already collected some willow stems, and some of us set about planting them to make a living hedge (which you can weave together once it's a bit more established). The rest of us had a heavy little workout shifting railway sleepers and pallets from the front of the garden to the back, where they'll make more raised beds and other garden features for locals.

All in all a lovely productive sunny evening :)

Louise, Andrew, Sara and Hannah joined the friends of the Palace Park for another volunteering session! Things got off to a ceremonial start with Bromley‘s mayor coming by to cut the ribbon for the official entrance to the park; he then joined a guided walk around six of the Bromley parks with several other interested parties. Meanwhile, we headed over to the other side of the lake to get back to clearing away ivy, brambles and laurel (and rubbish) to make space for more plant diversity. Andrew managed to tackle a huge overgrown holly too. Great work!

A lovely chilled session supporting Greener & Cleaner at their Community Garden.

We completed a couple of tasks:

🐎 Louise shifted a load of manure onto the compost heap so it can rot down with all the green waste and make some “black gold”

🔩 Meanwhile Hannah and I put together some weird metal tables for use at some workshops.

👍 Top Job

Crystal Palace GoodGymmers made their way to Alexandra Recreation Ground this evening to carry on with the task of scraping off the old flaky paint on the railings around the children’s play area, ready for a fresh coat once the weather’s a bit drier.

Given how close the park is to the Bridge House, we took the scenic route there via Sydenham. Unfortunately I managed to fall foul of two of the hazards I’d pointed out in the pre-run briefing (poor lighting and uneven pavements!) but luckily I was well supported by lots of concerned GoodGymmers and my well-stocked run leader first aid kit. After a quick break to check for injuries, we ran on to meet up with Millie from the Friends of Cator Park and Alexandra Recreation Ground who had an assortment of tools and protective equipment ready to help us remove the old paint and lichen (and some pesky slugs). My personal favourite was the double action scraper brush tool - watching all the paint flake off was very satisfying!

We worked and chatted for about 40 minutes and made some decent progress in that time. We’ll be back at the park on 21st April to continue the task (hopefully without the need for a first aid kit or head torches!). If you want to try out the scraper brush tool for yourself, you can sign up here

Rail-ly great work tonight team!

Great to join the assembled Friends of this park giving it some love and attention after a lot of neglect… and saving it from possible threat of encroaching redevelopment. Today lots of new plants had been acquired (and some rescued from the adjacent old Civic Centre site) so years of overgrown ivy, brambles and invasive trees needed to be cleared to make some space.

Ratchet loppers and various types of saw saw plenty of action. Brilliant people and brilliant secret spot in Bromley. (Plus, an actual ha-ha!)