Wednesday 20th October 2021
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Report written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
It all started so well last night! Little did we know there would be a minor hiccup to come...more on that later.
First, the good news. We got to welcome Carly to her very first GoodGym session - give her a huge cheer! Then, after our warm up, we discussed the best tips we had for motivating people struggling to get out for a run, and there was some fabulous advice. From finding a pretty route, to going with a friend, warming up properly, to 'just do it', there really is no reason not to get out there!
With rain threatening, we set off at a nice lick to Gunnersbury Park, a beautiful public space where we regularly help out to keep it safe and welcoming for local people. We found that we had been left a sweet treat to say thanks for our previous work, and especially because the park has just been awarded Gold in London in Bloom competition and also The Green Flag Award for this year. Monika, one of the gardeners at Gunnersbury said, ' It is thanks to the help of our gardening volunteers and groups like GoodGym, that we are able to maintain the park to such high standard. Having the help gives us also a chance to look after the existing flower beds, create new planting areas, and by managing the brambles, to increase the biodiversity of the parkland.' So well done team!
Our job for the evening was the cut back the brambles that were choking a sweet chesnut tree and becoming a trip risk for park users. Off we merrily went, found the tree in question - or so we thought - and started happily trimming away.
Until.
A bit of (far too late) sleuthing was done and we realised we were at totally the wrong tree. Oops. We quickly moved over to the correct location and furiously made up for lost time with some super speedy snipping.
We managed a nice run back to base for some stretches, timing the start of the rain perfectly. Another sprinkling of GG magic. I'm just waiting for next week's task to be confirmed, so watch this space!
Hounslow
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