We returned to the beautiful Forever Stars Serenity Garden at Highfields Park for our latest task on a slightly breezy but fine evening in Nottingham (how many more of these light, warm Wednesday evenings do we have left this year…?).

We met Martyn on arrival who armed us with gardening gloves, tools and the kind offer of refreshments. We then set to work weeding the flower beds, starting around the pagoda area where most people sit. Martyn was in the process of painting the pagoda, so some of us had a few near-misses and almost got a bit of a splattering from above!

We welcomed 2 brand new GoodGymers to this task – Bobbie and Chris. It was lovely to meet you both and we hope you enjoyed your first task. Special mention must go to Bobbie who decided to also take on the job of edging the flower beds to neaten them up. She edged like a pro!

Whilst at the Serenity Garden, we also had the opportunity to check up on our young shrubs that we planted on our last visit (check out the report here). They were going strong, although the recent rain and warmer weather had caused some to be slightly hidden by the grass and weeds. Fortunately we had some time left at the end of the hour to try and clear some of this to give the shrubs more space.

A big well done to our volunteers on this task: Chris, Bobbie, Tom, Rachel W and Rosemarie

Thank you to Martyn at Forever Stars for having us once again.

Check out all our up-coming tasks around Nottingham here including our pub quiz next week - all welcome, please come and join us!!

The weather could not make up its mind on Sunday morning when 7 GoodGymers (plus Pascal!) headed out to the Serenity Gardens in Highfields Park. Thankfully, by the time we had arrived, the sun was out and we set to work on planting a row of new shrubs which will create a boundary for the garden. The idea is that this will direct walkers around the path so that they do not trample across the grass area and near to the trees and plaques which have been lovingly installed by bereaved families.

For the most part, we found digging the holes fairly easy but did come across a few troublesome stones, manhole covers and bricks to work around. Some of us also helped remove an old kerb stone which took a fair bit of digging and levering. After the bushes were planted, we also helped with weeding some of the flower beds and strimming around the trees and plaques.

We had no first-timers today but welcomed back Sehrish, Gaurav and Andrew to their second tasks - thanks for coming back guys!

The Serenity Garden is a beautiful space owned and run by Forever Stars, a local charity dedicated to supporting families who have suffered a stillbirth or infant loss. Thank you to Daniel and Martyn for hosting us and to the charity for allowing us to come and be part of something so special. We would love to return and help out some more soon.