On a grey Saturday morning Rachel and Phoebe headed out to the Dry Arch Growers in Bathampton to support them in preparing for their annual wassailing event. They are a group of community growers that Goodgym regularly support.

A chipping good path We met Keith, our contact at Dry Arch and he soon had us equipped with shovels, rake and wheelbarrow to create a new woodchip path across some a muddy grass track. We got stuck in, marvelling at how much of a work out shovelling and wheelbarrowing is! After an hour of toil we'd created a good path ready for the soon to be arriving wassailers.

Lugging logs After a very welcome tea & biscuits break we were back out collecting firewood from a tree that had already been cut up on the far side of the fields. Wheeling an empty wheelbarrow up a hill and across a potted field turned out to be another good workout! We took 4 barrows of logs down to the firepit near the wassailing festivities.

Wassail! Finally we were able to relax and join in the celebrations, starting with a mug of hot soup and hearty bread sitting by the fireside. We were then summoned by the green man to start the wassail, and a local choir led us all in some singing, including the ballard of the Mini Apple: Mini apple stop your snoozing We need you for next year's boozing We're not bonkers to hang up toast That's what robins like the most.

The cider was flowing, the trees were being decorated by ribbons and toast stars, and the group continued around the orchard to sing. We took the opportunity to slip off home for a well deserved hot shower after all that hard work.