Julie joined WEAct volunteers at St John’s Lye for more clearing of the willow trees growing across the grass area. Good progress was made, especially when Hayden got going with his chainsaw. The trimmings were all processed into a habitat heap. Looking forward to another session at Knaphill Lower School on Saturday.

Another session at Knaphill, sadly this week only Julie was able to attend from Goodgym. Vikki was already working hard with her family and today’s task was painting - a second coat on the wigwams, finishing off the fence and more green on the newly installed gate. Luckily the morning was dry and bright however the wind was cold. 🥶 great progress this week and plenty more to do next time.

What a wonderful task organised by Julie, who kindly provided all the paint, paintbrushes, pots, tablecloths and even drinks and snacks.

It proved to be a popular task as there was a good turn out from the Woking GoodGym gang to paint bird boxes for Knaphill Lower School. We were given a wooden bird box to unleash our creative painting talents. Becky and Anne shared a box, and went with a very practical camouflage design, as did Julie and Kirsty who went with a beautiful shade of blue plus a cheerful yellow sun.

Nadia did GoodGym proud by not only painting a colourful box but also bringing along a friend for January in the form of her mum who is a good painter as demonstrated by her berry design. Adam ran to the task now he is getting back into running in time to paint a colourful red and blue box.

Ola showed his creative talent by using masking tape for his design. Vicky from the PTA popped along to see our hard work and explained 20 bird boxes will be placed along a trail for the lower school children to try to spot them all.

Vicky's son picked Stephanie's as the the best painted bird box, which was well deserved, as she was able to combine a practical but stylish design of green leaves.

A fun afternoon at Andy's Cafe with WEAct. There were plenty of board games to pick from. I had a good game of Rummikub, a classic Bananagram and then tried a new game using the Banagram tiles. It was great meeting new people and there were some fantastic veggie and vegan cakes to keep energy levels up. If the session is repeated I'd say it was well worth joining.

Luan, Olalekan, Kirsty and Julie were back for another session reviving the outdoor space for the school pupils. Vikki had 2 jobs for us this week - creating a habitat hedge and constructing a gate. Ola took on the gate and persevered all session, showing great determination,overcoming incorrect instructions and a lack of pre-drilled holes to create a great looking finished product!

Luan teamed up wiith one of the school parents and did a great job of removing the ivy, while Kirsty demonstrated her fantastic new tools that Father Christmas had provided. She must have been on the 'very nice' list. The loppers were particularly great for chopping the branches for the habitat hedge and the hori hori (a cross between a trowel and a knife) was great for making holes for the support posts. A great job by the team as always.

Looking forward to meeting at the Phoenix Cultural Centre on Wednesday evening to paint the nesting boxes.