Despite the recent rain, the plucky saplings at Fort Royal park are still struggling so the GoodGym crew were asked to come and lend a hand.

The run from the Hive served as a chance for Ruth to test out her legs before the Worcester 10k on Sunday while Kirsty arrived by bike. We all met at the top of the hill to see what Karen from Fort Royal Ranger had lined up for us to do.

A blackthorn hedge had been planted near the edges of the park so we carted barrows of water containers down to give them all a drink. Meanwhile Karen #2 brought mulch to be put around the base of each one. These actions combined help to keep the weeds at bay, give the saplings more nutrients and help hold moisture near to the base of the trees. Hopefully they will regain some strength over the next few weeks as the seasons change.

While we were working we got to admire the new mural that is being painted by a very talented artist showing a beautiful blue tit surrounded by flowers. It will be great to see this when it's finished.

There was then one more task left so we refiled the barrows with mulch and pushed them back up to the top of the hill to be met by last minute Liam who had arrived to help out too. He was soon issued a shovel and the mulch was spread beneath a large apple tree.

A fort-ifying experience for us all!

The long hot summer continues which is making life hard for trees and plants in parks all around the city, none more so than Fort Royal. All the young trees need a good drink at least once a week at the moment so GoodGym were brought in to get the wet stuff to where it's needed. What we lacked in numbers we made up for with enthusiasm as Natalie and Marcus pushed barrows full of water containers all over the park to be emptied on to the grateful trees. The most important recipient being a relation of the famous liberty oak that was visited by Thomas Jefferson. It wasn't just the trees that needed a drink so Karen from Fort Royal Rangers kept us hydrated too before thanking us for a job well done. We'll back for more in a few weeks unless we get some rain.

History was made once again on the famous Fort Royal Hill when the very first GoodGym Worcester session arrived at the park to help out Karen, one of the Environmental Rangers . The original job of watering trees had already been kindly completed by mother nature but there was always going to be plenty of other things to be done. Alison and Fi grabbed the litter pickers and tidied up the park, Sam and Abi grabbed the brooms and swept the yard, Liam and Marcus grabbed some rocks and placed them in a flower bed. Meanwhile the best dressed runner of the night Ed grabbed the leaf blower and created a blossom storm! Karen was thrilled with the rapid results saying it would have taken her volunteers so much longer to achieve the same results. Great work team! The task sat in the middle of a scenic 4km run along the riverside to and from the park with Douglas the dog putting the tail into tail runner. We'll be back at the river next week for some silt shifting so hope to see you all again, along with some new faces! https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/removing-silt-from-the-river-steps-to-help-rebuild-the-river-bank

Have a great bank holiday weekend in the meantime.