Three explorers and path makers arrived at Grove Farm this morning wondering what they would be asked to do today. Their last visit had completed carving out the Western Passage through the wood, which all the GoodGymers involved were immensely satisfied with.

Kash, Penny and Sevan were told that there'd been grumbles from passers by that the new path was too dimly lit and unwelcoming. That wasn't the experience that Mike and Anna from Grove Farm wanted to give the locals. The trio, along with the other regular volunteers were set a task of improving the path by letting more light shine across it. Tooled up with loppers, hedge trimmers and occasionally a saw, they were asked to remove the ivy that was keeping the wood dark and mysterious.

The ivy was woven through the boundary fencing of the wood. On the outside of the fence that'd previously had a first pass, those with loppers picked away at the vines bit by bit, trying not to take the fence out with it. On the inside, Kash was swooshing her hedge trimmer around, cutting away the masses of thinner vines to reveal the thick branches that would need to be lopped or sawed.

After 20 minute, the first chinks of light made it through the fence and we could see each others faces. We kept working our way along fence, cutting and sawing more and more away. By the end of the session, all but the most stubborn ivy had been banished from the wood's boundary. The Western Passage was now well illuminated and the locals on the outside of the fence also could see the transformations that were happening inside it.