"The flowers are to brighten up my flat"

...said Ms C as she took her shopping inside, with Kash and Sevan following her. The first task for today's mission was to find a vase or other thing that could hold water to put the flowers in. With Kash completing the most important task of the day, it was time to start the decluttering work for Ms C.

Ms C asked the pair where they'd like to start, in the bedroom or the living room. Well, the route to the bedroom was blocked, so the living room was the way to go. Ms C's carer had tidied up by placing Ms C's unsorted belongings into black bags. Ms C had unpacked the bags so that she could see what was in them and now they needed to be sorted through by Kash, Sevan and Ms C.

Kash and Sevan spent the task crouched on the floor, surfing through the belongings covering it. They worked through documents, batteries, pens, expired medication and a number of scissors that didn't work as scissors anymore. One bag was filled with recycling and rubbish to dispose of, with the rest of Ms C's items moved onto the couch to be looked through in more detail later.

As usual, there was a stack of donations waiting outside Miss M's front door when Kash and Sevan arrived. It looked like 1 trip to the local charity shop, so Sevan asked if there'd be anything more to take today.

"Not today. There are some books to donate, but I need to get to them first"
"It's too difficult. They're heavy" - Miss M

Undeterred, Kash and Sevan pressed a little, then a little more, while Miss M was still resistant, saying that the boxes were too hard to reach and too heavy. Eventually they convinced Miss M to let them take a look after the first donations were done. The GoodGymers would then see what the problem was.

The first round of donations was easy. It was full of handbags (again) and Kash and Sevan were back at Miss M's flat in 30 minutes. They then went inside for the first time to look at the book challenge and on the way, Miss M found more coats, cushions and crocheted blankets that could be given away, filling 3 more bags.

In the living room, Sevan slid his way between a chair and a sofa to the far window. The biggest problem wasn't his body or his legs. It was finding some empty space on the floor to put his size 8s. Once there, he found a stack of needlepoint books (to donate), some wicker baskets with fabric (to discard) and 2 archive boxes. The boxes were supposed to be filled with books too, but they were surprisingly light. Can you guess what Sevan found when he looked inside? 👜s of course!

After all that chat about heavy boxes filled with books, it was good to have helped Miss M learn that the boxes could be moved, they weren't dangerous and importantly, there was something easily donateable in them.

When nine GoodGymers stood on muddy crossroads in the middle of Grove Farm woodland, Mike, the leader of the regular volunteer group, asked an existential question.

Who wants to be a beaver today?

Ash, Melissa, Thaiza and Kash decided they would identify as beavers and use their natural talents to help Mike strengthen the dams, slowing the flow of the Grove Farm stream.

Find me some wood!

Big and small, half-rotten or three-quarters-rotten logs and branches were stacked on top or wedged against the existing two wooden dams to prevent the construction from falling apart. The aim was to extend the dams' lifespan and prevent water from leaking onto the paths. Pretty good for faux beavers, right? How effective the intervention was, time will tell, but it was lots of fun - particularly for those prepared and wearing wellies like Thaiza!

Meanwhile, Devi, Richard, Harvey, Steph and Sevan were up at the wood anemone battlefield, fending off a bramble attack. The thorny plants never knew when to stop, so the blackberries kept growing ahead of the anemones blooming season next month. The good news was that, within the last three years of helping Friends of Grove Farm, we weakened the brambles enough that they haven't grown back in full power since. That means less work for the new GoodGymers, but, hopefully, more wood anemones for everyone to see at next month's conservation day!