Today was all about preparing for next weeks Wassail. This is the traditional event held to see off any malevolent spirits and ensure a good harvest. Its become a great focal point for the local community and has got ever bigger over the last few years with volunteers and local residents and their families meeting up to sing, drink apple juice and generally make a lot of noise!

We spent our time clearing the orchard space of brambles and any roots that could become a trip hazard. Phil used his Northern Slopes scything skills while the rest of us raked and chopped away with shears.

At the end there was time for a coffee and another installment of the Orchard Book Club. Author of the day was Murakami, with particular mention of his short stories and book about running. To be continued....

Last community mission of the year in Manor Woods Valley and it was all about preparing the orchard space for the Wassail in January.

The Wassail takes place annually and has been scientifically proven to improve the apple harvest. Unfortunately Peter suspects that the volume of sound from pots and pans and singing was insufficient to scare off the bad spirits this year so we are hoping for an improvement on Saturday 18th - hopefully there will be plenty joining in the festivities between 2 and 4 pm!

We used shears to cut down any protruding brambles so that the space was somewhat less of a trip hazzard and enjoyed a chat about our favourite festive reads.

At the end we were properly spoiled with some warm mulled apple juice and mince pies. Happy Christmas to everyone involved!!🎄

Our task today was to rake cut grass from a slope near the park entrance. We raked into rows that could be easily collected using a wheelbarrow and then removed from the site.

By doung this we could prevent the hay from rotting down and nourishing the remaining grass underneath. We could then expose and break up patches of earth with the rakes that will allow wildflower seeds to take hold and increase the ecological diversity of the site.

The weather was perfect and the five of us had a good chance to catch up as we joined the rest of the regular working party for our task

We had a lovely sunny day for our Saturday task at Manor Woods Valley. 5 Goodgymers attended the task including a brand new member so welcome! Unfortunately when we arrived we got the sad news that the apple harvest is too small for apple day this year so there will be no apple juice being made. It’s still helpful to clear the area around the trees though so that’s what we did. We managed to get a decent amount cleared and the trees looked much happier. After the task another volunteer gave everyone apple brandy samples to take home which was so nice of them! We checked to see if the tree we planted which was saved from weeding at the Berry Maze was still there and it was!

A group of us attended Manor Woods Valley group’s regular volunteering session to clear scrub from a wildflower meadow. It was lovely to see some cowslips and native daffodils already blooming on what they call the ‘Rabbit Field’. We had a first time Goodgymer today so well done to Nell for your first task! We cleared a massive site which was satisfying to see the progress made. Don’t worry there’s still plenty of scrub left for nesting birds. After the task was finished we were treated to some Manor Woods Valley apple juice made from the apples we helped harvest last year.

Six of us had fun today trying our hands at coppicing in Manor Valley Woods.

Working in pairs we cut the Hazel stools down pretty much to ground level ensuring that the cuts were at an angle that allowed water to drain away from the centre and avoid it rotting.

While Dave and Danica, and Jason and Emma worked hard sawing away at the branches, Julie and Paul carried them away to be used as a natural bit of Hazel fencing.

There were some mixed feelings about this, it certainly felt pretty drastic but we learned that this encourages longer term growth and can extend the life of the tree from around 80 years to 1000! In fact our eager beavers today were performing a role traditionally performed by actual beavers who surely know what they are doing!

The coppicing also has the benefit of allowing more light into the space which can encourage other surrounding growth. So all good - even if it felt bad.

Thanks to Danica for the pun.