The last 6 weeks have made a difference to the paths of the wildlife garden at the allotments: dry ground, super-ripe blackberries, and strong growth in the brambles.

We helped with two of these this evening by chopping back as many brambles as we could, and taste-testing a few berries that would otherwise have ended up at the bottom of the compost.

The self-confessed frog-fan/frog geek, Kat, also let Jeannette know that longer term the ponds will be healthier by having short spells like this where the pond dries out, as nasties like ranavirus can't survive without water so it 'cleans' the ponds ready for when the rains return.

We chopped and moved five barrows full of brambles from the path and behind the fence edges, and learned how these allotments also have plenty of community activities on AND we had a peek at where last year we'd cleared and dismantled the very solid chicken coops and plans are now being made for seating spots in the now grassy and clear space!

One of our recent regular tasks has been Penge Congregational Church, where we’ve been helping remove old junk so the church can offer space to the local creative community to work in. Joining us as new GoodGymers were Sunanda and Jasmine - thanks for coming along!

We met Jonny, our task contact, at the church and were shown the way to the crypt. Contrary to what you might expect, it was small and well-lit! It was also nice and cool compared to the heat of upstairs.

The crypt held many boxes of books donated for jumble sales but had never sold, and now very dusty! Our task was to move these up to the old hall ready to be removed from site.

Some excellent self-organising split us into teams of those bringing boxes of books upstairs from the crypt and those carrying them to the hall.

In just 30 minutes we moved over half the boxes in the crypt - fab work!

The space is already looking larger, and shows that many hands make idle work.