The bank repairs at the Swan Food Project are now a race against the weather, Now autumn is around the corner there's a chance that the floods are too. So we were back for a second week to gather more silt for the project to use. All of last week's material had been used up with great effect (I forgot to get a photo of it unfortunately) with woven willow dead hedges used to hold in the compacted silt. This time we had three of us doing the shovelling and shifting with (Bertie) claiming this was exactly his kind of task. Between us we filled a record 21 bags which pushed the limits of the suspension on Marilyn's trusty Peugeot! It was all then stored safely at the Swan Food Project HQ to be used by their volunteers over the next few weeks. The swans soon came swimming over when we produced the food bag at the end of the task and we left with lots of happy customers, not least of which was Marilyn. We'll be back again in the spring when we can be sure that river will be staying within it's banks.

For some reason most people had to wash their hair tonight so couldn't make it to the task so it was just Kirsty and I. We were back at the strange set of steps down to the Severn that's stuffed full of silt. Marilyn from the Swan Food Project had invited us back to fill sacks with the unwanted silt so that it can be used to repair the bank further downstream.

We'd soon filled 11 sacks with silt but then had to shift them to the car which was heavy going! The final part of the task was to unload down at the Swan Food Project HQ. Tomorrow it will all get used by Worcester Environmental Group for the bank repairs. A great collaboration between three organisations.

Marilyn told us a bit more about the swans before handing over a bag of pellets for us to feed them. I was soon surrounded by the huge white birds, all keen to get as much of the food as possible!

Hopefully we can get in another visit before the winter floods return and on an evening that isn't hair washing night!

It's a good sign that the reputation of GoodGym Worcester is gathering pace now that organisations are coming to me to ask if we can help without the need to search them out. That's exactly what happened with this week's task when an email arrived from Connor of the Wildlife Trust to ask if we could help with a wildlife garden project next to Ghulevelt Park. The fact that the project was for a cafe called Kyndfolk sealed the deal. Kyndfolk are exactly what GoodGymers are!

The now familiar path alongside Pitchcroft provide our pre-task run from the Hive then the 5 of us were greeted by Connor and Julie from the Wildlife Trust and the team from Kyndfolk. Gloves were issued along with warnings not to remove fingers with the secateurs then we were let loose in the brambles. The aim was to allow access to the garden area next to the cafe that had clearly been neglected for many years. Many pallets, various kitchen units, lots of litter and a huge heap of tangled undergrowth were quickly tamed by the combined GoodGym, Wildlife Trust and Kyndfolk crew. There will be a time lapse film of the work coming shortly but in 40 minutes the whole area was transformed and with all digits left intact!

Julie and Connor now have a blank canvas to start planning ponds, bog gardens and retreats for all creatures great and small. Seb from Kyndfolk explained that he hopes the area can be enjoyed by the local community including the nearby primary school and will make sure that an accesible path will be in place for wheels and feet to get around safely.

The famous five GoodGymers included Bertie and Ruth who clearly enjoyed last week so much they came back for more! A welcome return for Alison after a few weeks off and my sister Juliet was dragged along after carelessly planning a visit to Worcester on a Tuesday evening!

Thank you everyone for another great job completed!

When Stu from the Friends of Laugherne Brook Nature Reserve contacted me about this task a few weeks ago he was hopeful that we wouldn't be needed. An odd reply when asking for help but we all expected a bit of rain to have done the job of watering all the trees by now but it's stayed dry ever since. So with two new recruits on their very first GoodGym mission in the form of Ruth and Bertie we set off from The Hive to run to the most mispronounced area of Worcester (It's Lawn not Larf-urn). Stu met us with his 4 legged friend Otis and we made our way to the brook with a barrowful of buckets and quickly formed a human chain to began hauling out water. The nature reserve has been planted with a variety of different trees grouped together in wilding areas and most of them were wilting in the heat. A small Waymarker tree looked particularily sad so was given extra attention. After 3 rounds to the brook we were ready for rehydration ourselves and luckily Stu's house was nearby and he revealed that he had ice lollies waiting for us. How to make sure your GoodGym volunteers keep coming back! It's a beautiful corner of the city and we look forward to returning for some other tasks but hope that Mother Nature will do the watering for us soon.

All of Worcester descended on to Pitchcoroft to set up stands for different organisations, groups, clubs and stalls. In amongst them we had our little GoodGym gazebo with banners, posters and two smiling faces in red t-shirts. Kirsty helped me hand out leaflets to lots of potential new members and explain what GoodGym was all about over the course of the day. We also got to chat to a few organisations that could make use of our task force so we look forward to building those new relationships into future sessions. There's so much good stuff happening around the city and it's great that GoodGym is now a part of all of that.

Many tasks simply require us to move dirt from one place to another. That was the case this week when we were asked to fill some raised beds at the Community Gardens. After a run down from The Hive under ominously grey clouds we were greeted by Bob and Clancy who showed us the barrows, the shovels and the pile of soil that needed to be moved. "It should take you at least 40 minutes to fill one of these". After 20 minutes the first one was full so we filled a second one! It was great exercise for Kirsty and Marcus with plenty of strength and conditioning work. Meanwhile the skys cleared and we enjoyed a lovely sunny evening down at Pitchcroft. The beds will soon be planted up with colourful flowers that are then used to make bouquets. We can't wait to see how the garden grows!