On a cloudy and blustery Sunday morning, 5 GGers joined the Friends of Westcombe Woodlands volunteer group for our regular monthly clean up/chop down of the nature area. This being the first visit to this beautiful woodlands for Kerry and Sander, they were treated to a personal tour by Julian, who knows the pathway like the back of his hand. Meanwhile, I stayed behind to help bringing out and laying down all the tools that we would need.

Tour completed and tools in hand, we made our way up the path to the area that was most in need of clearing: a patch of land between 2 paths that was covered in ivy that needed to be cut back to allow the rest of the plants to grow and thrive. We all took to the task with gusto, making use of secateurs, loppers and even an axe!

Almost 2 hours later, the fruits of our labour were visible in the form of a much clearer patch and a huge pile of ivy debris! Time to bring the tools back down, have a cuppa and the obligatory biscuit (always generously provided by the volunteer group), and make our way back home, hoping we wouldn't be blown away by the increasing gale-force wind!