Abingdon Green Gym Blog

This was the bi-annual Abingdon Clubs and Societies Day, held at the Guildhall in the town centre.  It provides us along with the many other groups and organisations in Abingdon with the chance to have a stall and demonstrate to those attending what we get up to.  Also, it is a good opportunity to attract new members. Dieuwke was in charge of organising the stall this year.  We were placed opposite the Abingdon Naturalists Society who we regularly hold joint sessions with, but there were many other groups present whose activities do not overlap. We received much interest, with several people registering interest.  We look forward to welcoming new members over the coming weeks. -Andrew Dieuwke, Kevin and Carolyn at the Green Gym stall There was much interest in our activities during the day Information on our activities and marmalade for sale! Poster outside the Guildhall Abingdon Guildhall

The new Abingdon Green Gym Programme for Spring 2014 has been published (below).  Click  HERE to open the larger-text pdf file in a separate window.

We returned to the Ock path after several weeks away to start clearing the mess of litter left by the floods the had covered most of the fields by the Ock following the heavy rain during January and February. Twelve Green Gymmers were in attendance on what was a warm and pleasant morning. Sally was in charge for the first time with James away doing atomic work in organising "ATOM" for Abingdon (the town's first science festival). She was feeling apprehensive about her new role but she need not have worried. The main tasks for the Green Gymmers was litter picking, cutting up some branches and some light judicious cutting back of hawthorn that would soon grow over the pathways and a pile of logs that had tumbling onto the pathway that needed a bit of attention. It was even claimed that some red and white barriers had fallen into the Ock and need removal. Kevin and Robert when off to try and find these barriers but after walking the length of the Ock between Drayton Ro

Many Thanks to Judy Webb who provided the following additional photos from the Green Gym sessions held at Frilford Heath Golf Club on 11th and 15th March 2014: Lesley Laura raking Fen raking Alison raking, Robert filling the bag with the vegetation Tanya and Sally busy at work Andrew raking Early Purple Orchid leaves at Two Pine Fen Sally and Andrew raking at Two Pine Fen working at Two Pine Fen Sally at Two Pine Fen

For the second time in a week, we had a session at Frilford Heath Golf Club.  This time we assembled in the main golf club car park before moving on to the Greensmans' area at the alternate entrance off the Abingdon Road, toward Tubney. Twelve Green Gymmers, along with site supervisors, Judy and Alison, were in attendance on what was a rather warm and pleasant morning.  Blue skies, birdsong and a very potent spring ambience were very much the order of the day as we ran the gauntlet down across the golf course, dodging golfers and their flying balls, en-route to Boundary Fen. As with Tuesday's session, the main task was raking up the cut vegetation that had been left over from the activities of the golf club staff at an earlier time, and to remove any rogue tree debris and/or fallen trees that we might find.   On the way to setting up our encampment on the fen itself, we had to cross the narrow, yet fairly deep stream that runs beside the site.  Alison and Judy were the fi

Another week, another mid-week session!  While we usually meet on Saturdays, there have been a number of additional sessions recently, and this was one of them. The idea of meeting on a Tuesday was due to the fact that a part of Frilford Heath Golf Course was not in use and thus we could in theory work on one of the fen areas without the risk of having to dodge flying golf balls.   Six Green Gymmers plus Judy Webb from Natural England (the authority that manage the wetland areas there) met at 10am, outside the greenkeepers' buildings on the course itself.  We collected together our tools - mainly rakes, and advised the head greenkeeper, Sid, that we had arrived.  Sid escorted us down to the worksite - the appropriately named Two Pine Fen.  This is a small wetland habitat within the course itself.  It is adjacent to the larger Boundary House Fen where we regularly work and has a pair of large pine trees within it.  It is home to a variety of locally rare plants including several