Southern Town Park, 18th March 2017

By Andrew -
Thirteen Green Gymmers, new and older, attended our session this Saturday at Southern Town Park.  We have enjoyed a significant growth in our membership in recent times, and while this was actually the smallest turn-out of the year, it still represented a respectable total.

It is perhaps true that this site tops none of our lists of favourite work locations, yet our work here is valuable in the maintenance of this community space.  

We gathered as usual here in the car park along Lambrick Way, before heading down towards the area beyond the sports pitches to set up beside one of the picnic tables.  Kevin was the leader on this occasion and outlined the morning's jobs - to clear and pile stray tree branches, to conduct a litter-pick and to clear an area in order to plant some wildflower seeds.

The group split into sub-teams and set to work, with each detail having plenty to keep them busy.  As usual, the fruits of the litter pick were rich and bountiful, with much fly-tipping uncovered as well as the usual snack wrappers and discarded beverage receptacles that typically line the edges of the field.  Carolyn and Andrew were even successful in clearing the waste from the ditch at the Southern end of the football pitches.

Elsewhere, recent high winds had dislodged a number of tree branches along the many footpaths, and these were sawed-up and lopped into manageable lengths before stacking them into habitat piles.

Eleanor had brought some wildflower seeds with her, notably yellow rattle.  A small area was raked and the seeds sown, which should attract bees and butterflies here, later in the season.

At the refreshment break, we were joined by Eleanor's niece and daughter, who were over from the USA, and along with her husband, Arthur, boosted our numbers as we re-grouped, ready for the second half of the session.  

It was more of the same until the close, and with that we have completed our Winter 2017 programme.  The new edition has just been published and will be posted here very soon!  For the next two weeks however, we will be at the Town End of the Ock Valley Walk.
-Andrew 


Kevin briefs the group.

Graham prepares the soil for Eleanor's seeds.

Seeds are sown.

The wildflower team!

We were unable to clear all of the discarded litter that we encountered!

Extra numbers for tea break.

Carolyn litter-picks along the field perimeter.

A habitat pile.

Colin beside the litter haul - at the collection point along Peep-O-Day Lane.

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