It was back the Hervey Road today for lots of lovely Good Gymers, where a garden and wildflower area is slowly being created alongside the sports fields. The sun was threatening to come out but earlier rains had softened the ground from concrete-like (our last mission there) to quite soft, and there were new jobs to be done.

Today the team broadly split into two, with one group diligently removing the thistles and other weeds, and the other uncovering the old path, which had become quite overgrown, and laying down new chippings. Many thistles were found including some extremely large specimens and multiple bags were soon full of these pesky weeds. The pathfinding was slower, with care needed to ensure that we didn’t go beyond what could be covered with new bark but, despite this, around 10 metres was refreshed and the new path almost followed the route of the old one.

All that remained after that was some very fine weeding to separate the last few unwanted plants from a dense area of more valuable ones before a chat with Annie and Richard, the wonderful organisers, after which we left the garden with it looking mush refreshed

Today we joined the Friends of Lesnes Abbey Woods for a spot of conservation work.

Pushing a wheelbarrow of tools to the heath area at the top of the woods was a workout in itself.

Once there, we set about pulling up bracken and digging out brambles to give the purple heather a chance to thrive.

There was plenty of chatting while we worked and afterwards at the cafe where we rounded off the morning with coffee and ice creams.

Join us next month when we're back for more!