A Toad-ally awesome hop, snip and a run

10 Goodgymers helped their local community in Kingston upon Thames
Leo Wooller
Mark Barun
Jane Yelloly
Gosia Rybacka
Claire Murphy
Laura Waller
Rob Haworth
Hannah Cochrane
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Kingston upon Thames

Tuesday 28th May 2019

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Richmond runner

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Mark Barun
Mark Barun

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Mark's sun dance worked! After an afternoon of grey and drizzle we ran in sunlight to tonight's task and it was glorious.

Tonight 10 of us returned to Edith Gardens to work with Jeremy and Elliot from Citizen Zoo to develop a garden for individuals with disabilities.

Before heading out we welcome new GG runner Leo who was already on his second Goodgym run of the week having already ventured to Richmond yesterday.

The market square was our warm up location and we thanked Mark for this as we got down low in a press up position on the comfy fake grass and lunged to the sound of the water feature.

Then stravas at the ready.. it was time to run

Now you would think having been there before we would remember which turns to take when on the run there , but we still managed to get confused as we made our way through the maze of Berrylands.

Once at the task we were reintroduced to the tools...loppers, saws and not forgetting the monkey ears (i think thats what they are called), used to bash down the stakes into the ground to start the creation of the famous dead hedge! While some bashed others were processing wood...that's right, we got technical! The first step was to spend an awful lot of time separating the wood into piles (Wood from the trees if you will) according to size..thin, not so thin, thin but almost medium, medium...well you get the idea! Then we had to make sure that these piles consisted of neat pieces of wood without lethal branches growing out the side of them which meant snipping them down and being careful not to cause any damage to each other as we did so. This wood will be part of the dead hedge, layered on top of each other in between the stakes so that animals and birds can nest inside.

Speaking of animals we were lucky enough to come across our very own Mr Toad who looked like he was covered in sawdust giving the impression he had already been working hard in the garden that day. Elliot put him somewhere safe so that loppers and monkey ears couldn't get to him and we got back to work.

As ever we wanted to stay longer than we could and hope to return again soon to do more great work on such an awesome project. All that was left was to run back up the frog and toad with the talk of dinner taking priority while trying not to eat river flies as we made it back to Guildhall.

Great running everyone and big well done to Jane on the Vitality 10km yesterday


This task supported

Not for profit social enterprise - As practitioners our approach is focused on action and applying the latest research to deliver measurable outcomes. Through translocations, reintroductions, captive breeding programmes, and a whole host of other conservation actions, we’re working to rebuild habitats to a more whole state

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Kingston upon Thames

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