In a mammoth task a Super Six of Saturday GoodGymmers helped to plant thousands of crocus bulbs on Richmond Riverside. The bulbs were planted in the shape of the Rotary Wheel as part of Richmond Rotary’s ‘crocuses of hope’ project. The flowers are a reflection of the hope that, by the time they bloom in February/ March, a vaccine will have been created that will help to end the current Covid-19 pandemic. It was World Polio Day on Saturday, October 24 and this is another cause that Rotary clubs have a history in supporting and for which a vaccine helped to save countless lives. Adam, Africa, Carla, Kate, Kitti and Sam arrived at the task which was up on the grass near Goucho.
An outline of the Rotary wheel had already been marked out and, working in pairs and face masks, we set about digging a trench all the way around by removing 10cm of turf. We then planted around 8,000 bulbs in rows of five, sprinkled on some fertiliser, put the soil and turf back on and, some 3 ½ hours later, it was complete. Members of the Rotary Club, friends and St Margarets councillor Ben Khosa were among the people who got stuck in alongside us. The project was overseen by Auntie Planty herself, Valerie Munro, who offers a garden MOT service and also runs Richmond Talking Newspaper to read the news to blind and partially sighted residents. Mayor of Richmond councillor Geoff Acton arrived at noon for a photocall and to hear all about the project. Geoff picked two environmental charities to support in his year as mayor so he was most impressed by our green fingered efforts and GoodGym Richmond’s garden work in the community. We look forward to early spring next year and seeing the crocuses in full bloom.

Tonight 15 runners ran 6.5k to help Petersham Common Conservation Group (aka Ken )

The original plan had been to help him plant 300 trees but by the time we turned up things had changed a bit. Instead tonight our mission was to 'heel in' the plants to keep them alive for a few more weeks before they go into the ground in there permanent homes. We were given a quick demonstration and instructed to dig holes large enough to get a full bag of saplings in, then fill in around the roots with soil. Once that was done we had to give them a good firming down with our heels. Now we see where it got it's name!

With so many of us we made light work of the 8-10 bags. Gav gallantly grabbed the biggest bag & therefore had to dig the biggest hole, we hit clay pretty quickly which made the challenge a little stickier. As the area for the holes was very small there was a bit of banging into each other but it's ok, we're all friends here! The 'heeling in' in itself proved tricky with lots of nice new trainers about, but with the help of some bags & our spades we got it sorted.

Special thanks to our lady of the lamp, or our own Florence of Nightingale hill, Jane, who gave herself an arm work out holding up the light for those without head torches. Always exercise to be had here!

We helped Ken clean off the tools and load them back into his car but we still had time on our hands so we headed back to the top of Richmond Hill to do an extended fitness session. Mark challenged us to work in pairs doing plenty of strength exercises and the team put in a great effort with lots of moral support and encouragement from partners in the recovery zone.

As we'd already done a zig zaggy, hilly run to the task and now an extra fitness session we thought it was a safe bet we'd be running directly back to whole foods but nope, not tonight. We headed off down Queens Road. Ciara & Ren were the last back in having run back up and down Kings Road (another hill), that deserves a special cheer, amazing work you two!

Well done to Samantha who ran to join us tonight from Lambeth, great effort!