It was a glorious summer evening for our return to Holy Trinity Lamorbey Primary School — greeted with a big smile and warm welcome from Vice Principal, Jane.

This time, we were handed a brand new mission: start to rescue the nursery children's garden, which was looking somwhat sad. Or in Jane’s words, “It’s become a bit of a dumping ground for old outdoor toys and play equipment.”

First, out went the miniature park benches, forgotten play equipment, scattered flower pots, and one lonely compost bin — nicely modeled by Lisa (check the photos for the full fun moment). Some items will be re-homed elsewhere around the school, while other bits were beyond keeping.

Next, we gave the overgrown bushes and plants a much-needed trim so teachers can actually see the children when they’re in the garden — always a bonus in a school setting!

Then we went to war on the weeds. They were stubborn little beasts, poking through the wood chippings and weed membrane like they owned the place. It took some serious heaving and arm-power to get them out until the brilliant discovery that pointed shears = weed-removal magic. Victory!

The added bonus? No clean-up needed! Jane had a genius plan — the Year 6 children would tidy-up the cuttings and sweep the area the next day as part of their Digital Detox Day: a full day of outdoor fun with zero screen time. Win-win!

A big high five to everyone who came along. The garden’s on its way back to being a safe, fun, and leafy little paradise for the nursery children. We're looking forward to continuing its revamp after the summer holidays. 🌼

Coming straight from marshaling at Lesnes Abbey junior parkrun we swapped our giant high-five foam hands for gardening gloves to join the monthly conservation session run by Marc from the Friends of Lesnes Abbey and Woods.

With a barrow-ful of loppers and saws we headed across the park and into the woods, picking up some odds and sods of litter as we went. (Just how did a broken mug handle end up there?!?)

If you know this area you'll know the only way is up, and it was a bracing uphill walk to a big patch of holly growing alongside the path.

Marc explained how invasive holly is, and how cutting it back encourages biodiversity as new plants, insects and other wildlife will move in to make the cleared area their home.

Although just five of us today, we got stuck in and you can see the transformation in the photos: Holly gone, and the cuttings piled up a short distance away, ready to be collected by the Park Ranger in due course.

As if to inspect our work, a robin appeared and flitted across the area, giving us the nod to say 'Nice work!' Then a bright green grasshopper came out and played around our feet. Sadly they were too quick for photos, so we humans took a few pics of ourselves and called it a day.

Until next month...