Today was all about preparing for next weeks Wassail. This is the traditional event held to see off any malevolent spirits and ensure a good harvest. Its become a great focal point for the local community and has got ever bigger over the last few years with volunteers and local residents and their families meeting up to sing, drink apple juice and generally make a lot of noise!

We spent our time clearing the orchard space of brambles and any roots that could become a trip hazard. Phil used his Northern Slopes scything skills while the rest of us raked and chopped away with shears.

At the end there was time for a coffee and another installment of the Orchard Book Club. Author of the day was Murakami, with particular mention of his short stories and book about running. To be continued....

With a lucky break in the weather (but a wee bit chilly), we welcomed Ramani to her first GoodGym task after she arrived for a documebt check and hadn't realised she could stay for the Group Run - hope it's the first of many!

We were all soon being let into the loading bay of Sparks and being let loose on taking down their communal area Christmas decorations, many of which we'd tied into the ceiling back in November. They'd stayed up much better than expected!

Spread over three floors, there was strategic lift manoeuvring and stair climbiing having found cardboard boxes to pack away decorations for use next year (if they survive!) and carefully squished paper lantern decorations to their flat state.

A quick team sport of small LUSH box collapsing and a human chain to over-fill a cupboard and our job was done.

Indoors again next week for our Group Run, in case that tempts you back!

We had a fantastic session to round off our work in the maze this year, planting new berry vines in preparation for the years to come! Rich, Emma and I maze veterans now, and managed to plant way more than was expected from just the 3 of us. We had a fair bit of wind to handle too, top work all round! Thanks for coming everyone!

This month we took to the bottom of the steps to tackle some of the fly tipping hotspots. Paul and the locals did an excellent job of scything down and clearing the area at the bottom, whilst I opened up the scar path slightly. Emma had found a huge pile of trash and was committed to cleaning it up before finishing the session. Len had some chocs for us for all the work we put in during the year. Not gonna say no to that!