Three Goodgymers braved the hot weather to help West Oxford Fun Day pack down tables, chairs and gazebos. I never realised before how many different types of gazebo there are! Once everything was stacked up in one place the real challenge began - we had to pack it all into a limited number of "cages" on wheels. It was a mental and physical test to make everything fit and to lift it all in. The cages could then be wheeled into their storage container ready to do it all again next year.

I forgot to take any "before" photos, but got some of the almost empty field to show what a good job we did!

Welcome to Natasha who joined us for the first time!

Mrs H's hanging baskets are looking lovely, but it's too hot for her to sit outside and enjoy them. She is keeping well in the heat though, but sensibly won't be braving Witney carnival to see her great granddaughter on this occasion. She enjoyed all the books, by Rosanna Ley, Jenny Colgan and Sarah Bennett.

Botley School had 3 more bags of shingle that needed transferring to the school quad. We helped shovel, wheelbarrow and rake the shingle, which was very satisfying! We then had some time left over so we helped with weeding too. The quad will have a grand reopening in a couple of weeks so it was nice to help get it looking smart!

Mrs H is surviving the heat! She hasn't quite finished one of the books but is enjoying it very much.

Oxford Preservation Trust have a piece of meadow land up on Harcourt Hill which they want to use for grazing. A water supply has been sorted, fencing is on it's way, and the final job on the list is to get the ragwort explosion under control.

Common ragwort is one of the most frequently visited flowers by butterflies in the UK and more than 200 species of invertebrate have been recorded on it. However, despite it's benefits to biodiversity, it needs to be got rid of on grazing land. Ragwort poses a significant threat to livestock, particularly horses and cattle. While animals generally avoid it in its green state due to its bitter taste, they can ingest it when it's dried in hay or silage, or when other food sources are scarce. While ragwort is not a neurotoxin in the strictest sense, it can cause neurological symptoms in animals due to the liver damage it causes. The plant's toxins primarily affect the liver. When the liver is damaged, it can no longer properly filter toxins from the blood, leading to a buildup of these toxins and impacting brain function, resulting in neurological signs.

Hugging the shade, we set about digging and pulling up as much ragwort as we could. We managed a good haul, almost filling a tonne bag with plants. This is definitely an ongoing task, but we feel like we made a good start at it.

With the temperature finally starting to drop by the end of the session we had a beaut of a run post-task up towards Boars Hill.

Welcome to GoodGym Becca!

What a glorious morning!

Thank you to everyone who cane to the Blenheim jaunt.

We started in the town square and encountered some very mean boy ducks and did some excellent people watching. We them set off around Blenheim Palace park stopping to admire sheep and lambs, avoid some very protective goose parents and their fluffy babies and also to get our breath back at the top of the big hill!

The routes were planned to perfection (yes I'm feeling smug about that!) and we regrouped in the square before having our all important post-run refreshments.

It seems that we even managed to tire out coach Rosie!!

I'll be planning some more social run/walk sessions over the summer. Keep your eyes peeled!