Abingdon Green Gym Blog

This Saturday's Green Gym was well attended with thirteen in all, including our two new members from the previous week, Tanya and Petra. The group assembled beside the weir at the town end of the Ock Valley Walk for our second outdoor session of the year.  However, due to the recent floods and for safety reasons, a no-entry sign had been fastened across the footbridge.  Fortunately permission rights had been granted by the town council and providing that we had the right spanners to loosen the sign, we were allowed access so that our session could go ahead. The Ock was still fast-flowing and at a higher level than usual, but the area where we usually work had either drained away or had not been affected by the flooding. The task as stated in the program, was to clear areas ready for planting new trees once we acquire them. The trees that we planted a few years ago had unfortunately...

This was our first outdoor session of the year, following-on from last week's AGM.  We assembled opposite the Sophos building along Barton Lane, where a fairly large group of us joined up with the Barton Fields 'Green Team' group, led by site warden, David Guyoncourt.  We were pleased to welcome two new members to the Green Gym, Petra and Tanya, who were both attending for the first time.  The weather was dry, thankfully, in sharp contrast to the previous days and weeks.  Indeed flooding was still evident along much of the field, particularly on the side where it joins the Thames. A large amount of tools were gathered and transported to the opposite end of the site, where we organised ourselves and received instructions on the work tasks from David.  The main jobs this time were to grub-up some of the blackthorn that has been encroaching rapidly on the boundaries and to cut back some of the bramble growth.  Both tasks were necessary in order to safeguard ...

The new Abingdon Green Gym programme for Winter 2014 has just been published.  Click on the image below to enlarge or find a pdf version here (with much bigger text)... http://www.abingdongreengym.org.uk/files/2014/01/GGwinterprog14.pdf Our next session will be on Saturday, January 18th at Barton Fields.

We met at James and Ursula's house for the A.G.M. and we thank them for their hospitality in once again hosting the meeting. There were fifteen of us altogether, probably one of the highest percentages of members attending an A.G.M. of any club or society, but this may have been in anticipation of the delicious food to be served afterwards. After coffee and biscuits, our chairman, James, began proceedings. We discussed the previous year's activities and looked ahead to sessions we hoped to run in the coming year. Something we would like to do is some construction work under expert supervision, such as board walks, fences or gates. We also discussed training needs, especially First Aid, new and replacement tools and publicity to attract new members. During the meeting, Samantha arrived with baby Charlotte, who played happily on the floor, heedless of the serious proceedings. We are grateful to Samantha for finding time to attend in the midst of her busy schedule...