Goodgym Islington were so happy to be invited back to the Crouch End Open Space (CREOS) off Shepard's Walk by the Friends of CREOS. This was our first trip to one of our favourite long running Sunday tasks from before lock down, and it is wonderful to return to these lovely woodland paths.

Glenys and the team of local volunteers were busy picking up shovels, wheelbarrows and clippers as we arrived to our meeting point (the cricket club car park off Wood Vale), and ready to put us to work rebuilding the forest paths after many months of footfall from visitors. The lock down restrictions have had a positive and negative outcome for these routes- the plus side being that more Londoners were able to explore the space than ever before, and the downside being that more damage has been inflicted on this beauty spot by the unexpected increase.

Steve got cracking with loading wood chip and bark into wheelbarrows, and distributing it all around a popular parkland area to encourage visitors to stay on the paths. This was Steve's first community mission since September 2020, and we are super happy to have him back! AA Simon and Patrick worked together to gather up large bundles of dead hedging and long trimmed branches from a resident tree surgeon, to then use them as blockades around some newly established walking routes. Naturally, during lockdown, some visitors have been straying from the established pathways as an attempt to maintain a safe distance from others. Unfortunately, this often involves trampling through natural habitats and beds containing tree saplings, so our task was to block off these new unofficial paths as best we could.

After about 90 minutes of physical work, we were all treated to a break with fresh coffee, biscuits and pets for friendly local dogs (including Suki, the black lab) as a Thank You for our efforts.

Our next session has just been uploaded to the GG website.

Feel free to sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/crouch-end-open-space-creos-volunteering-day-may-2021