We arrived on the farm at 2pm and were met by Kate. After washing our hands for biosecurity we collected our tools were told about our task for the afternoon. There was a large hedge which needed trimming back so we set to work with secateurs and loppers trying to trim it back into a neat shape. While doing this we had to save the hazel which we could feed to the goats later on and had to separate the other components of the trimmings into piles of brambles, holly hawthorn and maple. We were very speedy with sorting the hedge and set to work on another smaller one adjacent to us. Kate was very pleased with our work as she was expecting it would take multiple sessions to sort out the hedge! Our reward for our hard work was to feed the goats the hazel which they devoured. After this we had a tour around the farm visiting all the animals including the adorable 5 day old piglets. We all had a wonderful afternoon and left feeling accomplished.

Post-funeral, we started tonight's run thinking about the best things about the Queen. Highlights included her cheeky comments, quality bling and impeccable dress sense. The title of this report actually has no relation to the funeral and was instead based on the fact that John (from Crystal Palace Museum) had a broken headtorch which was stuck on flashing mode. Not ideal when you have a slightly dangerous task such as this evenings...

We ran straight to Crystal Palace Museum and into the old water tower. The plan is to clear all the vegetation out so that it can become part of the museum that the public can safely visit. After a couple of trips, we were now down to a layer of soil which has proven deceivingly hard to remove.

Roots Manoeuvre

Armed with shovels, shears and a pick axe we got to work carving up the carpet of roots into squares, rolling it up and trying whatever we could to get down to the concrete below. It was a seriously good workout - Maxim even made sparks with his energetic shoveling.

We filled up a few buckets with roots and they were added to the pile and lots of brick bits made up another pile.

When our time was up, John explained the plan for the space. We had some other ideas too... a music venue, cafe, art installation space...

Crystal Palace really is the place to be when GoodGym are around. 💪🤩

We arrived at 2pm on a sunny afternoon at Surrey Docks Farms and did our introductions. A few people had been to the farm before but it was a couple of people's first time- mine included! For our first task, we swept the goat enclosure cleaning away all their droppings. This was a satisfying task and everything looked very tidy once we were finished. Our following task involved picking up the windfall apples in the orchard. We had to separate them into apples that were suitable for cooking, apples that were not suitable for cooking but okay for the pigs to eat, and finally apples that were rotten that needed to be composted. There were three beehives in the orchard so that added a spicy element to the task. Luckily the bees kept to themselves. Once we had finished this we got to feed the pigs their apples- they absolutely loved them.
The final task involved sweeping the paths and making them tidy for the farm visitors. As a treat at the end, we were allowed to meet the animals. We fed some tomatoes to the chickens and got to spend time with the sheep and goats. All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.