Today's session for HANGOT had a surprisingly good start. There were 10 GoodGymers registered for the task, which was amazing in itself, including Will who made this is first GoodGym session. Welcome 👋🥳! Everyone also made it to HANGOT's secret undercover base on time and without getting lost. Amazing!

Once assembled, they walked to BlackBerry Corner, one of HANGOT's earliest orchards, with 20 apple trees and a long history of brambles, hence the name. As it was coming to the end of the growing season - for fruit and weeds - it was time to tidy up the orchard. Today's priorities were to:

1. Clear a ring around each apple tree to be free of weeds
2. Remove brambles and nettles from the paths
3. For completeness, cut down the open spaces too

The goal was to starve the ground of nutrients year after year to stunt and then eventually stop the weeds from growing back.

Work was divided up between the team with everyone grabbing a tool for their task. Shears, rakes, wheelbarrows, a pitchfork and a slasher were passed around. Working together, they made quick work of the most important jobs around the paths and trees.

At the same time, some of HANGOT's team were scything the open spaces, leaving lots to be raked up and moved to the distant compost heap. Will did a great job of raking throughout the task, which gave him a solid workout at his first session. A few others felt the fatigue in their muscles too by the end from chopping and slashing.

HANGOT were incredibly grateful that the huge GoodGym turnout had helped them complete all of the planned work. Their compost heap had also gone from zero to humongous, which will be really useful next year. There was even time for some to see their first quince tree fruiting and taking a chance on eating what they'd hand picked.

On Monday night Pete , Tabitha and Harvey met in Willesden and jogged 2.5km to Kilburn Grange Park

There we met Ajay from Kilburn gardening association who was happy to see us , and Kat and Beatriz successfully found the group in the dark.

Our task for the evening was scooping up leaves into bags , ready to be composted. We had gloves, rakes, scoops and two bright lights .

Jumping in the bags was optional, but very helpful !

The piles seemed endless so we got to work , and excellent teamwork meant we managed to bag all the leaves up in no time at all !

We posed for a photo , tidied up and headed home.

Great work everyone!

Kat and I converged at TRAID in Kilburn just after closing time to help five of their staff and volunteers put away the Summery bits that they didn’t sell in the prior few weeks of the sale - The only thing more amazing than what people will buy, is what they won’t – garments of unknowable purpose in all manner of patterns of every plant and flower and animal prints of every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth.

The task as ever was to get the items off the hangers / rails, into a few enormous boxes around the shop floor, to then be shipped out of the shop. A novel innovation this time was moving the piles of clothes across the shop floor by sliding them along the ground – quicker, more fun and possibly easier on the back keep bending down.

It took us seven about 75 mins to get the clothes and hangers away ready for the restock on Wednedsay, and reopen with all new donated bits on Thursday.