5 of the Kingston and Richmond Goodgym gang got together to take part in a "Community Action Day", a regular event organised by Friends of Fishponds Park and led by Citizen Zoo to bring together the residents of Surbiton to improve the wildlife habitat and green spaces.

We arrived to find a crowd of about 25 locals, young and old, already on the scene and laying out tools and setting up a gazebo in case of rain (a very good plan it turned out). We chose our weapons and headed off to the area Jeremy pointed out - ‘The Dell’, where apparently there used to be a pond but now all could be seen where hordes of giant brambles.

We got stuck in and started to make an impact on the overgrown jungle of weeds, nettles and brambles. The best tools for the job were none too plentiful and frequent calls of “anybody got shears” or “where’s the rake?” were heard across the work area.

Merry workers we were, shearing raking, lopping and mattocking (look it up!) our way through the bushes and gradually fighting them back. Soon enough a stream area started to appear, having been found by surprise by Derek (one of the locals) who lost his footing and toppled into it...

After a short time huge piles of undergrowth were appearing all around us, as well as a few big logs blocking the old stream and branches cut from overhanging trees. Then the inevitable rain came - and came in a torrent - and we huddled under the gazebo for a welcome cup of tea until it stopped.

It was a huge task and certainly not one for a day - even with the big crowd on the ground - but deeply satisfying to see the difference we made in our patch of the park. More of the same would be great, but hopefully with more shears (and rakes) next time!