Kennington Memorial Field - Saturday 25th January 2025

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Blog by Eleanor, photos by Julio and Sally

It was a lovely, sunny day, though frosty when we arrived at Kennington Memorial Field. This is chalk grassland, managed by Oxford Preservation Trust, and our task was to cut back scrub, mainly bramble and blackthorn which was encroaching on the grassland. Hannah from OPT had pointed out areas that she wanted us to tackle.

Our task was somewhat limited by the fact that no less than four volunteers had called in sick that morning, meaning we had no scythers and nobody able to use a tree popper. However, there were still twelve of us so that made a good size workforce. We were pleased to welcome a new Green Gymmer, Jo, also Jeremy, who lives locally.

Starting work

Working on the bramble thicket

Several people set to work on the bramble thicket, while Julio, Rhian, David and Jeremy tackled the thorny outliers, mostly blackthorn and hawthorn.

David and Jeremy deal with an outlier


Piles of cuttings

Tackling a thorny bush

Susan at work

The thorny thicket diminishes

Sally, although unwell, had nobly arrived to drop off the biscuits, including a cake to celebrate Lesley's birthday.


Teabreak with cake

There was a slight emergency when two large dogs rushed over, knocking over the remains of the cake. However, they proved to be obedient, and ran back to their owners when called.

We got back to work, raking up the cuttings and carrying them on drag sheets and pitchforks to the existing brash piles in the wooded area. Then it was time to stop cutting and finish clearing.


Carrying a heavy load

 In the absence of scythers and tree poppers we hadn't done quite as much as we had hoped, but everyone had worked hard and done their best.


Final  photo

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