The Elizabeth Daryush Memorial Garden, 29th September 2018

By Andrew -
The bright blue autumnal skies couldn’t have been more of a contrast to last week’s rain as 15 green gymmers plus a couple of local volunteers met for today’s session at the Elizabeth Daryush Memorial Garden up at Boars Hill. On arrival, we discovered a couple of large branches had come down from the sweet chestnut tree where we gathered, and vandalism was briefly considered before being dismissed.

The warden, Rachel Sanderson of Oxford Preservation Trust, wasn’t able to make the session, but had given us a map showing us what needed doing and where: mainly cutting back the nettles, bracken and brambles to stop them from encroaching onto the grassland of the garden, and to make way for where the daffodils come up in spring.

We spread out in all directions, taking on the various tasks, slashing, lopping, raking and piling up the debris to rot down. Graham and Ursula dragged larger branches through the undergrowth to add to the ‘dead hedge’ along the roadside which creates a habitat for wildlife. Elsewhere, Janet and Joan bashed brambles, Kate attacked the bracken and frenetic activities of various kinds could be observed right across the garden.

We had our tea-break in dappled sunlight, with Carolyn and Janet retreating to a bench by the pond. The rest of us took our tea and coffee beneath the trees, while gobbling up a few biscuits.

Back to work, with more lopping and slashing – a great way to release any tension and get the heart rate up! The sun continued to provide some lovely warmth all the way to the session's conclusion. More of the same next week, please!
-Joanna and Andrew



Photos by Joanna and Andrew:

Gathering by the bench.

Rosie with new Green Gym attire (and haircut!).

Session instruction including map!

Bracken pre-session.

Joanna rakes some cut bracken.

Kevin in the undergrowth.

Janet and Joan bramble bashing in the sun!

Heather basking in the beautiful weather.

James working up a sweat.

Time for tea?

Sweet chestnuts.

The break.

Janet and Carolyn take a seat.
Some beautiful hips.

Joanna mid-slash!

A lovely pair of acorns.

Still sunny at the session's end.

Some tools waiting for a lift home.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pinkhill Meadow Nature Reserve, Farmoor Reservoir, 16th March 2019

By Andrew -
Image
Another week, another new site for the Abingdon Green Gym! We met at the car park at Farmoor Reservoir, a healthy turn out of 17 of us, including French father Sebastien, and his eleven-year old son, Maelo, who was joining us for a school project. The session was led by James under the instruction of Hanna Jenkins, the warden of Pinkhill Meadow Nature Reserve, so called because it is right on the banks of the River Thames, just near Pinkhill Lock. It was another blustery day. Will this crazy wind ever let up? We followed Hanna in convoy round the edge of the reservoir, which was choppy to say the least, and parked up on the other side where it was thankfully a little calmer, the high banks of the reservoir providing some shelter. Equipped with our tools, gloves and goggles, we made our way onto the spot on the nature reserve where we were to do our work. Hanna told us that the reserve had been formed in 1991, but some aspects had been neglected over the last ten years. The aim
Read more

Kennington Memorial Field, 29th October 2016

By Andrew -
We have been working at Kennington Memorial Field for a number of years now, clearing scrub from the slopes so that the valley remains an area of grassland and wild flowers. This time Rachel from Oxford Preservation Trust was in charge and led us down to the lower end of the field, where we were to cut back the trees and bushes by several metres and burn the scrub on a bonfire. We were joined by some families with children of varying ages, the youngest only three, who had answered a local appeal for volunteers. We set to work and soon we had a bonfire going. Even the children who were too young to use loppers and saws joined in, carrying branches to the bonfire pile. Despite the drizzly weather they all worked cheerfully. At tea break time we enjoyed some delicious snacks that Rachel had brought and a tin of chocolates supplied by Michele. We found two old birds' nests in the course of the morning and cutting back the scrub revealed a log pile with a rabbit hole under
Read more

Ock Valley Walk, Town End, 22nd June 2013

By Andrew -
Image
Quite a small group gathered for this session and the weather didn't look promising. However, we were pleased to welcome a new member, Laura. We set off for the woodchip path,where we made our encampment. The nettles had grown high and dense since our previous visit, almost concealing the young trees, compising beech, oak, silver birch, cherry and rowan, which we had planted as whips almost two and a half years previously. One of our tasks was to clear the nettles and other vegetation immediately around them. As you can see from the photo of the young cherry, most of the trees are flourishing. Other tasks were to cut up and clear fallen branches into piles and the inevitable litter picking. There was a sharp shower shortly before 11 o'clock but it had stopped when we gathered for a welcome tea break. By the end of the morning we had finished clearing round the trees, tidied away the dead wood and picked up quite a respectable amount of litter, though I suspect t
Read more