RDA (Riding for the Disabled, Abingdon), Saturday 26th of November, 2022

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This week's blog post was written by our brilliant Green Gym chair, Eleanor D.!: 

A large group of Green Gymmers, fourteen in all, assembled in the yard at the Riding for the Disabled centre in Southmoor. Our main task was to clear a ditch with a stream running through it so the water could flow freely, and this would prevent the fields from being flooded. There was also some help needed with fencing and Graham went to give a hand with that.

There were a lot of leaves in the ditch and these needed to be raked out. Some of us scrambled down the bank and set to work removing vegetation from the stream bed , all of this while standing in about eight inches of water. Others stood at the top of the bank and raked the cut material through the fence or cut back brambles and overhanging branches.


We were spoilt at break time with coffee and tea provided for us by RDA as well as delicious cakes. As well as about nineteen horses, some of which you can see in the photos, RDA has two little ponies, Freddie and Marmaduke, which are not for riding, but for therapy, so people can pet them and walk with them.


We had some more work to do after the break. Roger went to help with the fencing and the rest of us finished the raking and clearing and piled branches and soggy leaves into the trailer and helped to carry branches to the edge of the woodland.


Our final and very important task was to plant two willows on the stream bank in memory of Janet Dale, who died last April. Janet was a keen Green Gymmer and had been a regular volunteer at Riding for the Disabled for many years. It was Janet who recruited us to work at RDA, keeping the ditch clear and also going to fundraising events such as quizzes and bingo nights. We all miss Janet very much.


Before

During 



The Team at work


Curious friends 

Someone would like a cup of tea, too. 

Getting lots of pets 

Jim hard at work

Cool weather coat on!


The ditch cleared!

Planting Janet's the first of the trees in memory of Janet

Planting the second tree in memory of Janet

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