What else would one do on a Saturday morning but arm oneself with sturdy gloves and head to a hidden corner of Oxford to fill a skip?! In our not-so-new reality this counts as a major social event!

Hogacre's Wild Wallow have taken over the disused tennis courts at Hogacre Common. The area has been tennis courts, a Children's Allotment, and most recently a dumping ground for various cumbersome items. The new tenants of the area are working to bring it back to life as a family-friendly space where they can host outdoor education and workshops. However, before that can be fully realised the trash has to go. The complication is the location - it's seclusion is wonderful for ecological education but slightly less practical for filling a skip! Every item had to be carried out over the pedestrian bridge across the railway line. 4 flights of stairs up and down each time meant that we were were all reaching our daily stair climbing goals within half an hour of starting the task and arm muscles were well worked.

Have you even lived if you haven't manhandled a rotten sofa across a railway line?!

After an hour and a half we had filled the skip almost to the point of over-flowing, cleared almost all of the bulky rubbish out of the Wild Wallow patch, had organised the pallets and metal poles, and had earnt a soak in the bath and a slap-up lunch.

Lovely to get involved with a new (to us) project!