6 Goodgymmers from all across the borough braved the possibility of impending summer rain showers and joined us for an intensive evening of green tasks at Thornhill Square Gardens.

Area activator Simon met with Marie Laure and Caitlin at the Arsenal Community Hub on Benwell Road for a short warm up, a catch up and a pleasant 1.2 mile run around Caledonian Road (passing some of our regular GG Islington task locations on route). We even bumped into Steve on route, who was maintaining an efficient walk to the task (somehow he beat the runners? I think he must be a wizard).

As we approached the gardens, we were greeted by the lovely Anna, the leader of the Friends of Thornhill Square Gardens group, who set up a variety of tasks for us all. GG Islington regulars Steve and Aidan were offered some beautiful new clippers for trimming down the grass verges around the primary flower beds (a home for bees and other pollinators), and a fork for pulling up some stubborn ash tree saplings. Steve was also asked to clip a collection of dead poppies from the bed too, before shaking the seedlings to encourage more poppies to grow later in the year.

Marie Laure and Caitlin were tasked with digging holes (from the nice soft ground) and planting new iris bulbs within the flower beds. The wet weather has been really benefiting the gardens, and the plants have been growing so quickly!

Anna was thrilled with the work we put in last night, and posted a lovely Thank You message on the Thornhill Square Gardens Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/p/CSYuWkAD9j5/?utm_medium=copy_link

We will return very soon for sure!