The C S Lewis Nature Reserve is one of Oxford's many pockets of nature. Managed by BBOWT and some dedicated local residents, it is a lovely patch of woodland with a large pond surrounded by the residential streets of Risinghurst.

One of the big challenges in the Nature Reserve recently has been people walking and biking off the footpaths, causing erosion and destroying areas of wildflowers. In some areas it is so bad that there is concern that the soil erosion is undercutting the tree roots and will cause those trees to topple one day - hopefully not on top of an unsuspecting visitor! To try and stop further damage our task was to help use some logs and branches to create natural barriers along the edges of the footpaths so that it is more obvious to people which are the rights of way. Quite a few trees have had to come down recently due to Ash die back, so although sad that gave us a lot of materials to work with.

2 hours of hard work, and we had created barriers in 3 of the most critical areas of the Nature reserve - at the top and bottom of the 'cliff' and also along a long section of the footpath up through the woods.

Good to meet you Jamie and Steve.

A gaggle of Goodgymers traveled to Richmond this morning for a classic combination of parkrun tourism and snacks. We took part in Old Deer Park parkrun.

Three official parkruns clocked up and one 2/3, due to parking dramas and wee stops.......

It was so lively to be cheered round the course by our pals at Goodgym Richmond and to be serenaded by a chap doing his saxophone practice in the park!

Now to plot and plan our next trip!

On this month's GoodGym Food bank flash mob we:

• Shifted all the crates of fresh vegetables in the kitchen to sweep and mop the floor
  
• Cleaned all the fridges
  
• Took out the food waste for collection tomorrow
  
• Did an inventory of the medicines
  
• Portioned up tea bags and nappies (needless to say not into the same parcels!)
  
• Cleaned mucky food crates
  
• Moved a large area of shelving, tables and stacked up food stock to thoroughly clean the area - probably for the first time since we did it last winter!
  

These maintenance and cleaning tasks are very difficult to find time for in the usual day-to-day running of the Oxford Mutual Aid food bank, and so our regular evening blitz of cleaning is very much appreciated by the food bank team. They've already expressed their appreciation for our efforts.

10 GoodGymers, and our honourary GoodGymer Penny, took on our semi-regular task of clearing up the litter in Magdalen Wood. Magdalen Wood is a lovely patch with a terrible litter problem. We are always sad to see how much rubbish is thrown down in the woods between our visits. This time, with the brambles and nettles dying back, we were able to get at a lot of the problem spots more easily and clear litter that may have been sat under a tangle of vegetation for a while.

We filled sacks and sacks with cans and bottles, picked up several Unidentified Metal Objects, a bike frame, pieces of carpet, glasses cases, and most sadly of all a full sack of needles.

We're happy we left the woods in a better state than we found them, but it's sad that this is such an ongoing problem.

Welcome to GoodGym Lydia - lovely to meet you!

A damp but hardy group of Goodgymers gathered at Ark-t this evening to help with preparations for the upcoming light festival.

Transforming the garden with an (ironically) underwater theme in mind we draped white plastic over the trees, fencing and climbing frame, fastened giant tentacles to the teepee and trees and gave the area a spruce and tidy.

*Hopefully the decorations will withstand the amazing amount of rain that we were pelted with!*

Big well done and excellent garland wearing to Megan for achieving her 10th good deed this evening!

HUGE thank you to you all for turning out is SUCH grotty weather xxxx