This week we revisited South Ward Allotments.

Our particular set of skills had been requested by the manager of the site to help cut back brambles (what else?!?) threatening to take over one of the plots and block all important access to the main water stopcock.

Armed with a variety of cutty things we plunged in and soon amassed quite the bramble mountain. Goodgymers will not be defeated when it comes to brambles.

We chopped away, chatting as we went about parkrun, the upcoming Blenheim Triathlon, the ridiculousness of the housing market, our jaunt to Marlborough and chips.

After a last minute panic involving a lost pair of secateurs and a dismantling of the aforementioned bramble mountain, we stood back and proudly surveyed our handiwork.

Good work team! Welcome to Charlotte it was lovely to have you along this evening!

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there was an allotment site tucked away down a littery lane. Now these allotments were a thing of beauty with plenty of flowers, and fruit trees, and chirruping birds. The sun shone, the river didn't (often) flood, and the allotment holders were happy.

But ill-fortune befell some of the plots, and land was abandoned. In the place of flowers and vegetables grew a large hedge of thorns. Every year the brambles grew higher and thicker, 'til at last the abandoned plots were covered and hidden, and not even the greenhouses and swings could be seen.

Rumours abounded throughout the land of how beautiful a place stood behind the thicket of thorns down the littered lane. It was said that flowers had once bloomed with abandon and palm tree fronds would rustle in the breeze. After some years there came a group of intrepid souls who were not afraid, and thus it came to be that one fine Sunday morning in January a fearsome army of GoodGymers met outside the Redbridge Household Waste Recycling Centre (oh yes).

Armed with secateurs, and thick gloves, and loppers they toiled tirelessly under the blazing sun (as blazing as it gets in January) to vanquish the brambles and return allotment plots 204 and 275 to their former glory. For eons (2 hours) they battled thorns and brambles, ruthlessly weeded and pruned, and discovered such treasures as crutches, broken glass and rusty chairs beneath the thicket of thorns. As the sun passed high noon the GoodGymers retired from the fight for the day, retreating to refuel and tend their wounds (a few minor bramble snags - nothing worthy of the accident book!). Undefeated and undeterred they will surely return to continue the battle another day.

Now we hope that plots 204 and 275 meet their perfect gardener and live Happily Ever After.

Welcome to GoodGym Thomas and James. Good to meet you both!

South Ward Allotments is a 5 acre plot on the Southern edge of Oxford. After the 2nd World War the allotments here spread from the Old Abingdon Road all the way over to Hinksey, but unfortunately the site now has a teeny bit of an image problem: It's a little bit out of the way and with around 50% occupancy there are quite a few neglected plots gradually succumbing to bramble inundation.

Emma, who's one of the allotment committee, asked us to help get some of the vacant plots cleared of brambles to make them more appealling to potential gardeners, and so we donned our long sleeves and long trousers to tackle the thorny problem.

The light is a bit against us on evening tasks now, but with a hot air balloon floating above and some lovely evening sunshine we managed a full hour of lopping and detangling. We unearthed raspberry canes and a sweet pink swing in the process and were gifted yellow and green courgettes from an allotment tenant as a reward - what will you cook up with yours?! 1 allotment plot down, many more to go...the plot numbering goes to over 200 at South Ward!

Emma has asked if we could come back a few more times, and so we'll look at future dates to try and clear more plots, although they'll obviously need to be at weekends for the next few months.