8 wonderful GGers made their way to Kimberlow Hill to give some care to a new mixed deciduous woodland. Saplings were straightened, weeded and de-snailed. Ants were dislodged from tree guards. Alder leaf beetles, orchids and wild flowers were discovered. All re-usable tree stakes, canes, ties and 3 types of tree guards were bundled up and left for people planting trees to come and take. The broken stakes were put in a dumpy bag and since the task another volunteer has offered to collect these for recycling. The unusable waste was bagged and taken to be binned by the Treemendous volunteers. Here's hoping the saplings benefited from our care and will grow into trees to be enjoyed for many generations to come.

Two dedicated Goodgymmers spent an hour sanding and varnishing in the sun to spruce up a weather-worn interpretation board.

We initially set to work sanding the posts and then moved in to the board. The board was more tricky as it still had loads of staples and screws from previous notices that were difficult to remove. Soon we had the board and posts looking suitably scuffed up.

After brushing off the sawdust and wiping everything down we liberally applied the varnish.

Everything had gone far too smoothly (pun intended) so if course when we poured white spirit into a container for cleaning the brushes, it had a massive hole and went everywhere. Luckily, quick thinking from Penny to mop it up using the builder's wipes saved the day.

The board is now ready to go back to the Greenway and should last a few more years.

This was quite possibly my favourite task of all time. Why? Here's a list

• burning stuff
• demolition
• bashing things with a sledge hammer
• wildlife (including a very unphotogenic rat)
• power tools (electric saw)
• treasure (marbles and a sling shot)
• lovely people, all equally enthusiastic
• very grateful people at the orchard
• perfect weather

we hope to be back soon to do more burning... watch this space!