A glorious sunny morning welcomed a grateful eight to the Ham Lands today, as we welcomed two new joiners for our monthly session helping the Friends of Ham Lands in their habitat preservation.

We set up in the same location as last month, near the Thames Young Mariners, and Sharon briefed us on the morning's task to cut back and clear the wild clematis and giant dock which had clustered (to make my punny title work) in one particular area.

The team selected digging tools and shears and got stuck in, digging out the clematis by the roots and cutting down the giant dock low to the ground, being careful to remove it without dislodging too many of its seeds.

We made fast progress as everyone worked steadily, clearing the low lying clematis and clusters of dock and filling sack after sack, which were regularly dragged to the undergrowth to be emptied on a compost heap.

Sharon was on hand with refreshments and we stopped to wet our whistle with the best cuppa ever to be served from a plastic cup, before a final push to finish off. Shear delight!

As usual, we rewarded ourselves for our efforts with a visit to the famous Swiss Bakery for coffee and snacks. Big shout out and warm welcome to Alex and Ann - hope to see you both again soon!

Next time at Ham Lands is on 12th July. You can sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/goodgym-richmond-helping-the-happy-ham-landers-4b814934-05f6-47e4-a6b2-cf6839ee6cc6

It’s been a very spring like Saturday morning, no coats needed, but we needed the tough gloves to tackle the brambles. We were tasked to tackle an area in the Ham Lands which was overgrown with brambles and Goodgym along with the Friends of Ham Lands did a great job clearing the area. After a little tea break, we cleared our area and then went off for a coffee in the sunshine.

GoodGym Richmond’s Monday 11th November Group Run was a ‘second Monday’ task at our sponsored plots in Buccleuch Gardens.

Despite the cold and the dark evening we got a huge amount done: repatriating fencing; sweeping cleaning and cobweb dusting in the Arcade; strengthening the ‘twiggy barricades’; weeding and leaf removal on and around the Arcade lawns.

However the evening was really about celebrating Ken’s 100th ‘official’ GG Good Deed, although we know he has really done many more.

And we also salute his incredible input as a task provider to GG Richmond, inviting us to help with improving Petersham Common and teaching us about bats, hedge and fence building , horse troughs, planting, drainage, ecology, woodland management, haloing and so much more.

So we salute Ken Mackenzie. Environmental hero . Richmond’s Green king.

Starting at Tap Tavern, Jp celebrated his 600th task, an additional 100 tasks from his milestone 500 in just 11 months!

Beyond the bright lights of Richmond, an intrepid group of GoodGymmers headed off into the dark lands of Petersham to the hidden lair of Petersham and Ham Sea Scouts.

One pair set about emptying a broken trug of soil, one pair helped to level ground to put slabs down for the wheelie bins, and the remaining people got stuck in to a task to filter the ash from the huge bonfire and remove any metal nails that were in the palettes that were burned! A good team task that had everyone doing their bit to get the job done and keep fit while we did it!

The evening ended as the temperature dropped quickly and the group ran back towards the high street and home!