Tonight’s team of volunteers arrived at The Wandle River Community Garden (formerly the Paul Bowness Memorial Garden) after a truly scorching day! Fortunately, the evening air had cooled down just in time, providing the perfect conditions to get stuck into some serious community action.

We were excited to hear about the future plans to grow native plants here specifically for natural dyeing, adding a brilliant, sustainable, and creative twist to this local green space.

To smash through the to-do list, we split into two teams to tackle both the garden itself and a spot a short distance up the river:

Team 1: Armed with secateurs, set to work clearing a thick patch of stubborn brambles, prepping the site for the native dyeing plants.

Team 2: Focused their energy on the main community garden area: weeding, sweeping, tidying up, and clearing litter to get the oasis looking pristine again after a very busy weekend of visitors.

An amazing transformation - well done everyone!

A good sized group of us got stuck in at Martin Way Methodist church this evening for our weekly group session.

I’d never seen the garden, so it was a joy to see the oasis out the back of the church.

Abby told us what was what and we divided ourselves into weeding, watering, composting, pruning and moving things! A lot was achieved (including removing a whole bush!) and a lovely evening was had by all.

With so many Goodgymers signed up for the main task at Raynes Park Station, it made sense for some of us to branch out and do an alternative job at one of Merton's nearby garden streets. So after our run up from the Leather Bottle, Adrian, James, Louise and I jogged from the station to Laurel Road to join Emily tackling the kerbside weeds. The residents have decided they'd rather keep the street free of weedkiller chemicals and do things the natural way, so we donned our gloves and got stuck in. Luckily the rain held off but we were still treated to a lovely rainbow. Our efforts certainly made a difference and after an hour we were able to uproot ourselves and head off to our pub social feeling satisfaction at a job well done. It was great to welcome James to his first Merton session and to see Louise again.