Happy 9th birthday GoodGym Richmond!

Celebrating nine years of keeping fit by doing good in Richmond at the riverside plot we take care of on behalf of Richmond Council. A sunny jog along the river, followed by lots of watering, weeding, clearing up and happy chatting as we went. And a biscuit to finish!

Thank you to all 591 people who have done a task in Richmond over the last nine years!

Seven GoodGymers came out on Monday to work on the River Crane. We donned our chest waders and ventured into the mirth not knowing how deep it would be. The rain earlier in the day had raised the River levels considerably but Ken (standing on the bank) assured us that it would only be up to our waists! In we went like moths to a flame…. We were here to manage Himalayan balsam for FORCE (Friends of River Crane) a global invasive species that chokes out natives. We saw them across the river in the reeds and got to work pulling out the annual before it set seed. Ken told us we are part of a experiment to use a biological control in time using a specific rust that infects the balsam but first we needed to dig out some to get the numbers down. And to that we had a great time yanking out the weeds in our waders!

After the heatwave broke, it was time to get a second coat on!

Temperatures hadn't plumetted that much in reality but our task this evening was the complete the task we started three weeks ago: protecting the boathouse doors for the scouts. This evening we headed out to put the second coat of teak oil on.

Starting with a good stretch in the sunshine on Richmond Green, half the group started walking to the river while the other half did interval sprints around the green, getting six sprints in before jogging off to the riverside.

Armed with brushes and oil, the doors were soon looking well-fed and happy, giving us time to go and get well-watered at the busy pub next door before sunset!