Somehow buttercup season came and went within a week, so the insects have had their nectar and the buttercups were readying to spread their seeds EVERYWHERE. GoodGym to the rescue to start deadheading all the buttercups we could find in two hours, which was just leas than half the buttercups in the Cemetery...

Five bin bags and counting...

Another beautifully sunny evening for our Group walk/run, this time to a new-to-us green space in Bedminster that was losing the battle with brambles.

Some had heeded the warnings of thorniness and were in long sleeves and trousers, some (especially Ed) decided a vest and shorts were up to the task. Brave.

It wasn't a first good deed for anyone but Faduma was back for her second and Ramani, in her new red t-shirt, was back for number three.

We had short tools, long tools and in-between tools, depending on how close to the brambles and nettles people were prepared to go. The runners with Tim and Freya had already made good progress to remove the first pile of brambles by the time the walkers arrived and Harsheh specialised in tarpaulin filling, dragging and emptying, somehow managing to rake bramble stems - sounds like a good workout plan!

We made sure there were no birds nesting where we were chopping and it was lovely to see one of the neighbours who'd previously tried to keep the area under control.

With the main runner group having finished the initial clearing of the middle patch (including a pesky sycamore sapling and a final push on the second patch revealing a dumped rucksack that had become home to many, many woodlice, it was time to draw stumps and head back.

We finished the journey back with a beautiful sunset - happy days!

Much buttercup and bramble was dug/pulled out to give the lovely plants a chance to thrive. It’s making a real difference but we still have about 10 years of Monday mornings before we’re on top of it all!

Two cherry sucker/saplings from Royate Hill Nature Reserve’s Community Mission yesterday are now planted in the Cemetery Gardens, and hopefully will get enough water to survive.