After a couple of weekend washouts due to various named storms, it was heartening to see the February sun beaming down as we gathered in the car park at Oxsrad. After a change of footwear to more sturdy wellies or boots, we collected spades, extra guards and stakes to plant and re-plant trees. The ground was still wet and a bit squelchy so Julia and Ben were very happy for bringing alternative footwear!

In the autumn, approximately 450 trees were planted by volunteers with Marston Community Gardening but the hope is to double that in due course, and with so many trees planted, it might not be surprising that a few didn't take or had been food for local wildlife. We planted an extra 10 or so trees near the current group of trees and removed the competing grass from other trees that had been moved from their original location.

The bulk of the task,however, was to investigate which trees needed replacing so some detective work was required. It turned out another 50-60 trees needed replanting! With Matt sporting some excellent shades and Goodgym t-shirts in full view, we managed to re-plant in all the locations within the area, making it a very good morning's worth of work. There was even enough time to cheekily add a few more trees towards the end with Trev pushing for a burst of speed tree planting.

The dependable and efficient Goodgymers certainly deserved their cup of tea at the end of the task!

Thanks to all that came along! Alistair from MCG was very pleased with the excellent work.