It was so nice to be back on Monday evenings! We kicked off our new series with an easy 1k run down to Penge Congregational Church from the Bridge House. The church group were setting up to host a music festival and needed some tables, pews and cupboards moving to create space for a music festival. Our team got to work creating space to move some very long pews, and luckily we had the turning space available in the vast church. The church group were really grateful for our help - we were grateful for the indoor task 😅

5 pro diggers joined the lovely Fieldwork Project team today to help with digging out space for a French drain, which will ultimately reduce flooding and make the area more stable and accessible. It was great to welcome Jeff to his first GG session, as well as Leigh from GG Croydon and CP regulars Hannah and Laura. Thanks everyone for your top digging efforts. and to the Fieldwork team for some tasty pasta - a perfect way to refuel in the peace garden. It was great to learn more about the project's wider work and how the French Drain will work, once installed!

Ed and I arrived to help out with a litter picking session of the whole area, and helping to tidy out the pond Spring, planting and sinking plants in the newly cleaned water! Photos are courtesy of the Friends of the Albion Millenium Green.

A slight change of plan today, but nice to complete a useful job for the Fieldwork Project team!

We were tasked with turning a load of compost/manure into a new compost heap. What was a solid few feet to shift, we thought it would take days! But actually, we were wrapped up in 45 minutes.

Oh yeah, there were horses. Ponies actually.

Top stuff.

After a drizzly start, the rain eased off just in time for a final push to clear the pile of wood chip that The Blenheim Arpley Estate Residents Association and GG teams have been chipping away at (pun intended) since the summer. In just over an hour, we redistributed many wheelbarrows' worth of chip across the various plant beds, taking extra care around the new spring shoots that have started popping up. Extra points definitely go to Mark for his speedy wheelbarrow manoeuvring skills! Nice to get a job done :)

GoodGymers Mark and Linda found a satisfying way of using surplus woodchip at Blenheim Arpley Estate when we spotted 25 recently planted saplings in need of tender loving care. The slender young trees – currently ‘sleeping’ before springtime arrives – all had protective guards but, after struggling to grow during last year’s heatwaves, several had become weakened or uprooted. Working with a small but mighty team of local residents, we used shovels and wheelbarrows to add a generous circle of mulch around each sapling to enrich the soil and prevent evaporation, holding important moisture around their roots over coming weeks. Special shout out to the youngest member of the crew who enthusiastically tackled all tasks… replanting stricken trees, replacing missing stakes and guards, adding mulch… and even had energy left for litter picking. Other areas of the community garden also received a tidy covering of woodchip and we will be back another time soon to finish shifting the rest of the pile. Smashing effort everyone!