Wed 5th Aug 2020 - GG Virtual Session # 017.

Team GG Zoomers for this week....

This week we had 10 GG members attending the Wednesday morning session...well done to all those who managed to get along. Viv decided that she was going to give us a mini quiz by asking for ideas as to what we thought an old English word was that she was trying to translate from a hand-written manuscript. After a bit of head scratching, Mark came up with the fact that an "s" was often shown in old text as an "f"... so the word was "assigns"...! Easy peasy (when you know how 😏). The next topic of conversation was hedgehogs as Bob had found a Kamikaze one sitting in the road outside his house. It was rescued and re-homed in his (spacious) garden so well done Bob 👍. He did mention making horseradish sauce from the roots of the plant...apparently you don't need a lot of root in the mix before your mouth turns numb..!

There was quite a lot of discussion about possible future venues for real (outside) GG sessions but nothing  programmed in as yet. Come September, the chances of us returning to some sort of normality are on the increase so fingers crossed (although the possibility of working at a couple of West Wight churchyards might arise before then)

Mark mentioned that he had recently been out to the West Wight Community and Leisure Centre and took the opportunity to look at the crab apple tree we planted there in memory of Carole Walker. Apparently it is doing fine..see attached photo.

Wed 29th Aug 2020 - GG Virtual Session # 016.

Today's photo for the "Wall of Fame"....😊

The on-line meeting followed what seems to have become our regular agenda... with Mark giving us a quick update as to what future weeks might bring with regards to any outdoor sessions. Although he has been following up various leads, none of our established venues are suitable / available under the Covid-19 regulations as they stand at the moment. There is hope that things might return to some sort of normality come September..so fingers crossed 👏.
With the "official business" cleared..the conversation opened up into more general topics which included the experiences various people had had with haircuts, shopping, eating out, etc .... it appears that there is a wide range of interpretation of the government's guidelines but everyone felt safe. There was quite a long discussion about walks around St George's Down which led on to the origins of some of the more unusual place names here on the Island. As a side issue (we tend to drift off the main topic of conversation..!) the date of the big flood in Newport was a little earlier than we thought...1960. This CP article has some amazing photos taken at the time, click this link to view... Newport 1960 flooding. Mark's father could remember the day of the flood when, one of the ponds up on St George's Down, broke its banks and poured down the hillside flooding the garage at Blackwater....must have been quite a downpour..!

It's looking as though our next Wednesday's session will be another Zoom meeting but I am sure Mark will send out an e-mail if things change.

Stay safe everyone.

Wed 22nd July 2020 - Barncourt Farm, Wroxall. GG # 827.

Mark's Photos and video.

(you might need to up your volume level when playing this)

11 of us decided that Himalayan Balsam pulling at Barncourt Farm was the ideal way to spend a Wednesday morning.  The dreaded HB was concentrated in the harder to reach areas along the edges of the Wroxall Stream and the ditch that was deep and narrow.  Mark rose to the challenge and donned the waders while others battled the brambles and nettles in the dry ditch.  The highlight of the morning was the number of swallows swooping above us; this was offset by the knowledge that we were sharing the ditch with a rat and a wasp's nest on the bank of the stream.  Nevertheless, it was great to be out and sharing a wonderful day with everyone.

A big thank you to Alison for sending in the editorial and to Mark for the photos and video.

Wed 15th July 2020 - GG Virtual Session # 015.

Another happy group shot of GG Zoomers....😊.

After the excitement of having a "real" GG session last week, this time around we had to resort to the magic of modern technology for our Wednesday morning session. Mark confused us all by initially appearing as a diminutive "Lego Man" standing next to what appeared to be the bottom of a table leg... this actually turned out to be a full sized Mark standing at the foot of The Angel of the North statue...! With that resolved then the meeting opened out into general discussion encompassing a wide range of topics. 

Now the lockdown on hairdressers and barbers has been lifted, a few of us are certainly looking a little tidier 😆. For those readers who are avidly following the ongoing saga about Bob's garden, the latest news is that the beans have black fly and the cucumbers have white fly. We were informed that one fly paper alone had attracted in excess of 1500 pesky flies..! I have to ask, who would bother to take the time to count them all and should The Archers be concerned about being knocked off the top spot horticultural excitement..????

There was some chat about the access to sea caves either side of Freshwater Bay and the likelihood of discovering long lost treasure .... and Phil's mystery plant was identified (by Viv) as Sea Lavender. 

Unfortunately, I had to drop out early so if anyone else can remember any riveting conversation from  the end of the session then please forward it for inclusion.

Although the Zoom sessions are a poor substitute for "getting out there and doing some REAL work", it is nice to see a few smiling faces and check up that everyone is doing ok in these "unusual" times.