On a cold and fresh day on the Ham Lands, the GoodGym team joined Sharon and the rest of the Friends of Ham Lands to tackle an overgrown patch of brambles. John, Pippa, Monika, Kate, Chris, Adam, Suze, Rosie, Alex and JP were armed with loppers, gloves and plenty of enthusiasm as we chopped back and uprooted the brambles to reduce competition and open up space for violets and snowdrops to thrive.

The task involved cutting through dense, thorny growth and digging out roots to help prevent regrowth. Working steadily as a team, we cleared the area and left it ready for spring flowers to emerge. By the end of the session, the site looked noticeably more open and light-filled, giving native plants a much better chance to establish and spread.

We finished up with a well-earned cup of tea with the Friends of Ham Lands group, before making our way to the Swiss Bakery for drinks and snacks — a perfect end to a thorny but rewarding mission.

Next time will be on Valentines Day - sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-the-happy-ham-landers-8ee7fa0c-756b-4d38-9748-7b6b725f7d2e

This evening we headed to our sponsored riverside plot at the Three Pigeons. We go every month but this one was different as we were saying goodbye to a very special GoodGym Richmond member: Anita

Anita has been a member since 2017, was the first Richmond member to hit 500 good deeds and is already 150 beyond that. Beyond how much Anita has done for the community, she has been instrumental in the taking on, designing, leveling up and maintaining of our riverside plot. On task nights that means instructions with military precision but behind the scenes there has been even more work, liasing with the council, getting plant donations, planning task nights to make the most of them, and single-handedly looking after the area through drought periods and special events.

Although there is sadness at Anita's leaving as she heads off to an exciting new chapter in Swansea, the evening was a celebration of all that Anita has done - including her signature tasks: watering from the river and weeding with table knives! You can see more of what we got up to here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOX_wlTCBPT/?igsh=cDYxanUzbm43eXJ5

❤️Thank you so much Anita, from all of us and everyone who has walked past the arcade and Three Pigeons ans enjoyed the results of her hard work. ❤️

On a lovely warm Saturday morning, Sharon of the Friends of Ham Lands welcomed 5 Richmond GGers to do some good in the sunshine.

We first walked a good long way from the meeting point to the riverside on the other side of the Ham Lands, to find our target site. We needed to be near the river as our focus for the task was on “bashing” balsam.

Himalayan Balsam is an invasive species which grows rapidly in wetter areas during the summer months, blocking light for other plant life and generally causing a nuisance for native flora and fauna.

The great news is that bashing balsam is great fun. It’s very satisfying to pull up the plants, which can grow at least 10ft tall, and we made good progress, cutting a wide swathe through a densely growing area and building a huge pile of the bashed balsam.

The only problem was stinging nettles, and those who had come in shorts soon regretted that choice. We did our best to cut them down with loppers as we went, but a few stings and rashes were picked up along the way.

We finished up and headed out separate ways this time - the Swiss Bakery is closed in August. We’ll be back (and the bakery open again) in September - sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/goodgym-richmond-helping-the-happy-ham-landers-3b829ff3-0842-4cc9-96a6-49a17d3d149e