It was a beautiful autumn morning in Newcastle today and the lovely secluded garden of the West End Refugee Service (WERS) wasn’t a bad place to spend it. Catriona, Adam and Scott had begun the job of clearing the overgrown beds a few weeks ago so with Aimee and I joining in we were able to quickly get going and continue the task.

Ivy was definitely our nemesis today! Although the lovely task owner Alison was keen to keep a covering across the fence to maintain privacy, it had definitely invaded beyond its welcome! With a combination of shears, secateurs and brute force we cleared four bin bags of it away. Adam in particular clearly hadn’t burned enough energy at parkrun earlier so he took on the challenge of clearing a tree trunk of the pervasive creeper. I suspect that the tree will be breathing easier this afternoon!

A last run over with the rake really highlighted the difference we had made in not much more than an hour. There’s more to be done in the garden so ivy feeling we’ll be back - there are WERS places to be!