Four GoodGymmers joined other volunteers at Ray Mill Island for a spot of dry hedge building. Mick was chief engineer and stake-driver, Christine cut branches to size, whilst Anne-Laure and Sheila sorted the area around the compost bins that had become a bit of a dumping ground. Once the supporting stakes were in, the area in between could be packed with branches to the agreed height, with the aid of our boots, and hey presto, a dry hedge was born. It was much-admired by passers-by, and it has to be said, by ourselves too. Not bad for an afternoon's work

Jen and Didem were weeding wizards clearing up two area of invasive heliotrope in the rockery.

Weeding in the sunshine, by the tinkling of the water fountain and having a good chin wag was the perfect therapy for a Friday morning.

Jen, Louis and Roberta met with Shoshan our task leader for a briefing. We were joined by her two beautiful dogs, Lily and the younger, more boisterous Simba.

Our task today was a quick tour of the two new developing Fernery areas before bundling up previously collected twigs, sticks and branches into broomstick type arrangements.

We were soon joined by Sheila which meant that we could demonstrate that many hands do make light work.

A last job before we finished was watering the planters and bedding plants, so with the hosepipe ban still in place it was buckets to the rescue.

We had an impressive pile of broomsticks by the end.

Six GoodGymers met at Ray Mill Island for another round of cutting branches from the now diminishing pile of bush. Both large and small branches are being used to form a 'Fern Forest' on the side of the stream on Ray Mill Island.

The log barrier will both prevent people from going into the stream and the wood and fern will provide a habitat for insects and little creatures to flourish.

Regulars Mike, Georgeta, Sol and Diya knew the task on hand. New to Ray Mill - but not GoogGyming - Mohamud and Louis quickly joined the group, sawing and cutting branches. We filled two loads of the trolley placing the thin branches under big ones to create a tapestry (and stop kids from throwing sticks in the stream).

A nice physical activity after a day of desk work for most of us!

A smaller group went back to Ray Mill Island on what was a relatively cooler evening than previous visits!

The team there has started putting irrigation in place, so we won't need to water plants anymore #selfreliance. We got stuck in where we left them previously - cutting out logs from a pile of bush for them to be put next to the river stream.

Mike already knew what to do and was straight into it with his very sharp saw. Roberta, Didem, and Diya weren't entirely sure how best to saw but a new skill was unlocked very quickly, and we were soon in the thick of it. Teamwork makes the dream work!

Once we had a full trolley of various lengths of wood, Nivvi navigated it to the stream where task owner Shoshan laid them on the bank. The idea is to create a kind of a barrier to prevent the public from going into the water. We now know what tethering logs mean!

The plants in the nursery area and the plant troughs at Ray Mill Island were badly in need of watering. With no weekend work party sessions at the moment, Sheila answered the call to help out. With the hose pipe ban, and all the watering cans having gone walkabout, everything had to be watered by bucket!