While most of the group headed straight to the task location this evening, three runners met at the Tap Tavern for a quick run over the Bridge to St Christopher's. On arrival, Liz shared information on some of the upcoming tasks, talked about both the end of summer social and Christmas party in the same sentence, and we all welcomed Christy for the first time!

We have helped at St Christopher's so frequently that even though the person on duty didn't have specific instructions, we set about giving the garden a bit of 'the usual'! Cutting back the bushes, taking out brambles, sweeping the driveway of leaves and giving the front hedge a trim. Many hands make light work, even as the dark descended on us and there was just time for a giggling group picture before everyone headed home.

Our monthly Richmond Furniture Scheme visit saw six of us bravely venture further into the undergrowth.

After we had removed the sand bags which had been blocking RFS’s side passage the previous month, we got to grips with clearing the ivy, brambles and other debris, that included the odd squeaky dog toy.

Additionally there was rubbish from the RFS’s last social that had to be cleared up following a visit from a local fox in the night.

It was a rather hot and humid morning, but spurred on by the thought of carrot cake at the end, we galvanised ourselves into action, using tools such as saws and loppers.

After an hour of sawing and hacking, we finally removed the seemingly never -ending branches and moved them into a compost pile.

Although, we made a large dent in the work outstanding there, clearly another visit is required and next month we will be back with the aim of finishing the job!

See link below to sign up.

https://www.goodgym.org/v3

The second Monday of the month for Richmond GoodGym is the night when the all the might and manpower and enthusiasm of the weekly Group Run is focused on our sponsored garden plots in Buccleuch Gardens by the River Thames. Monday September 11th was a particularly monumental challenge but with a lot of hard graft we proved equal to this Herculean task and finished a massive amount of planting and watering and still had a bit of energy left for the monthly social afterwards.

It was a particularly challenging task as we were attempting to plant an incredible gift of over 50 plants donated by the nearby Petersham Nurseries. Beth and Anita had collected the donated plants from Petersham Nurseries earlier in the day, and were surprised, delighted and awed by the Nurseries’ generosity.

This influx of high-quality, well-established plants left the Group Run runners with a Herculean planting task, exacerbated by an additional 5 trays worth of Verbena Bonariensis and blue catanache grown from seed waiting to go in .

Early arrivals Beth, Anita and Rosie did some preparatory weeding around the Buccleuch Garden benches and The Three Pigeons Plot and sorted a planting schemes and a rough division of labour. Meanwhile Liz led the main Group Run from The Tap Tavern in Richmond and arriving at Buccleuch Gardens everyone was allocated into one of three teams led by Beth, Anita and Rosie (GG Richmond’s Buccleuch Gardens Task Force Team). In this way and with just two spades we somehow managed to complete an extraordinary amount of new planting around The Arcade, The Benches and The Three Pigeons Plot.

And, with three non-stop water carriers working throughout, we were able to water in the new plants and bring much needed water to some of our plants struggling in the September heat wave.

We can’t thank Petersham Nurseries enough for such an amazing donation of plants. Hidden away near St Peters Church, Church Lane, Petersham, TW10 7AB you’ll find not only a high quality plant nursery but also a unique café, shop and an acclaimed restaurant . It is the most magical spot. Please do go visit and say ‘Thank You’.

https://petershamnurseries.com

It was a truly sweltering morning on the Ham Lands as the September summer continued and a group of 6 GoodGymers gathered - with the addition of a couple of little people and a doggo - to do our monthly bit for the preservation of the area of natural beauty.

The GGers peeled away from the main Friends of Ham Lands group to tackle an area of brambles and a hawthorn bush with particularly brutal thorns. Fortunately the area was under the shade of the trees as the sun was getting hotter by the minute.

It was far too hot to wear anything but shorts so we had to be particularly careful of the spikes and thorns. We got to work with loppers and secateurs, making piles of the branches and brambles beside the path. It took some skill to manoeuvre these into the large sacks without getting pricked and scratched, but we managed admirably and deposited 4 sacks in the undergrowth before finishing the job.

Feeling pleased with our efforts we decided it was time for refreshments, and had iced coffees and soft drinks on the grass outside the Swiss Bakery which was packed with people enjoying the hot weather.

Next time at the Ham Lands is likely to be a lot cooler! Sign up now here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-the-happy-ham-landers-a217e66c-ae8a-445d-8874-d0b8d1fdb9a2