Julia and Sam met Ian and the Green Team volunteers on the ridges of the Old Alleynian Rugby Club parking. We continued with what we started last week and tackled the ivy that was infesting the oak trees. We used different methods to slowly take away the roots latched onto the tree trunk of the oak tree. We tried using sheers, loppers and a saw. Most of the roots could come off the trunk, but some were left. Julia also raked around the tree to pick up the remaining leaves and chop off any smaller branches and brambles.

Back at the Old Alleynian Rugby Club with the Green Team next month (last Sunday of the month)!

A foggy and nippy Sunday afternoon did not keep these four GoodGymers at home including first-timer, Mar! Welcome to GoodGym and it was great meeting you! 😁

In fact, Anna and Julia were busier bees than Sam was today. 😲 It was their second mission of the day as they were at St. Faith's first helping out GROAD over there with 3-5 drop offs and preparing the room for the Open House for the refugees to come and take what they desire. Although, they arrived at Old Alleynian Rugby Club thirty minutes later, Sam, Mar and Katherine only had one drop-off and it was by one of the rugby coaches, Helen, who was present as her under-18 girls team were playing on the pitch. 🏉

Noticing the lack of drop-offs and having Ian (the Green Team volunteer coordinator at Old Alleynian Rugby Club) needing our help with removing ivy from a tree, we all decided to help him out for 45 minutes. We used loppers, sheers, a rake and our bare hands to tear away at the ivy that was engulfing this tree. Underneath the ivy, was an old, but fairly healthy looking tree trunk! 🌳

As soon as we were finished, we noticed Katherine talking to a lady who had a whole car load of donations, so we rushed over to help her out. She had donated plenty of baby and children items and as she was finishing off her drop off, we had another lady bring various items including an old analog TV and DVD player! 📺📼

We said our goodbyes to Anna and Julia whilst we waited another five minutes or so for the GROAD van to appear, so that we could load all the donations onto Andrea's van. Another successful session, but we hope more locals would use this drop off location in the future.

It was a pleasure to see two GoodGym newbies in Caroline and Julia come and help out with Get Rid Of And Donate (GROAD) drop off session today. We needed the hands as there was an non-stop stream of donations coming through over the hour and a half.

We even had a couple that were clearing out their house as they were moving and pretty much brought everything apart from the kitchen sink...

Coming to these sessions often makes you realise how much stuff there is in the world. We sorted out through the donations and Sam brought over the items of pre-packed bags and extra bags of trousers, towels etc. to the sorting room as on Tuesday, GROAD will be distributed the bags to the rough sleepers on the Strand (Zimbabwe House).

By the end of the hour and a half session, we had prepared over a dozen bags for the rough sleepers and sorted through children's toys, women's clothes and homeware. We had to leave all the items on the tables as the cleaner needs access to clean the floor.

It was a pleasure to meet you - Caroline and Julia despite not talking to you as I just cracked on with the job at hand. I hope you'd enjoyed the session and saw the reality of what GROAD and GoodGym does. Hopefully, you can join another GoodGym session soon and we can chat as we do the task 😊