It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning as 6 GoodGymers – some of them slightly jaded from the prior evening’s antics – gathered on the Ham Lands for a dose of good-doing. After a minor car parking incident caused hilarity all round we had our briefing from Bill and Sharon, which this included a warning about the Hemlock plants in the area which can cause skin reactions (and a lot worse if ingested). We then walked deep into the conservation area and found a spot to work in full of nasty brambles. Ham Lands had become a real Ham Badlands.

Shortly after the briefing, New Jack (to differentiate from other Jack) – on his first community mission – was persuaded to head off with Bill to cut some long grass with a rather mean-looking scythe. The rest of us took up our loppers and got to work on the brambles and another plant whose name slips my mind but also needed to be removed at the roots. It was good to be outside in the sunshine and the mood was positive amongst the gang as we caught up on the Jubilee, recent holidays and family visits and discussed the Turks Head 10k taking place the next morning.

After our allotted 90 minutes we were a little tired from the heat and craving coffee. Luis and Chris dragged the final sack over to the woods to dump it under cover and we gathered up the tools before heading to the Swiss Bakery to rest and recharge, before rushing off to various plans.