Mia and I joined the regular volunteers and some new faces at Dacres Wood Nature Reserve on Saturday to help John with one of our messiest tasks of the year - pulling the overgrown reeds from the pond! Suited up in waders and industrial looking gloves, we got stuck in (quite literally - the soil was very clay-like!) tugging the reeds from the roots, getting covered in algae in the process. Mia even found a newt along the way, which she rehomed on the other side of the reserve. Before and after photos in the pictures - not bad for an hour’s work!

It was satisfying to spend time restoring Mr J’s front garden to a tidy state and even better to see the smile on his face once the bindweed and litter had been cleared. Mr J explained that previously he had felt his spirits sink each time he went outside because, due to a painful disability, he had been unable himself to tackle the work needed. Now he says he feels motivated to get a bit of welcome exercise and fresh air doing occasional light gardening to keep everything looking neat. And with his fence no longer choked by weeds, he can arrange for it to be repaired.

It was great to return to Ripley to scrub up the windows from the inside too this time (+ some radiators and extra bits)! Brenda and Hannah set to work with the help of the warden, Cliff, and got things sparkling while discussing the benefits of Goodgym and volunteering in general. We also found out about more of the activities going on at Ripley, including coding, yoga and art clubs, and took the opportunity to pose for some shots in the elegant music room... (We did actually clean as well!)

You can check out what's on at Ripley here:

https://www.bromleyarts.com/events-manager/

This week, we kicked things off an hour earlier to beat the heat. I met Viv, Lumen and the rest of the local volunteers at 10.

The main task of the session was watering, and lots of it. It was a steady back-and-forth with watering cans and wheelbarrows full of water to make sure all the thirsty plants got a good drink.

We also did a bit of weeding and litter picking to keep the planters looking neat and tidy.

Excitingly, work on the planter repairs is well underway! The bed nearest to the park is now sporting some very smart new coping stones—great to see improvements taking shape thanks to all the generous support and fundraising efforts.

This week’s insight from gardening guru Lumin: Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ will stay white in drought conditions—if you want to see those signature red blooms, keep them well watered!

We’ll be back again soon to keep the plants cool and thriving. Come join us if you can! ☀️💧🌿

I was Picking Cherries at Local Allotment for Community.

A fantastic four met Sharon at Ripley Arts Centre this morning to scrub some windows clean. It’s a place with an interesting history and lots going on, including music groups, art classes, poetry and filmmaking. It was almost shut down last year so it’s good to see it’s now still going.

We devised our respective strategies for cleaning the windows and set to work, also using various tactics/ladders to reach the higher parts of the windows. The result was pretty shiny and satisfying! At the end we even had a special tour of the building, learning about the musical family that once lived here and left their marks (literally) in the brickwork…