Christmas Green Gym.

The last Green Gym before Christmas will be on Wednesday 13th December - at Shide Quarry, Newport.

This tends to be the "office party" for the Green Gymers so baked jacket potatoes, coleslaw and the "basics" will be available for the workers (supplied by the Green Gym). To ensure that there is enough to go around, please feel free to bring along any "spare" mince pies or other Christmas goodies that you may have. So Green Gymers - aprons on - flour at the ready - get out there in the kitchen to prepare some culinary delights for your fellow volunteers......!

Something a bit different this year - there will be a prize awarded to the person wearing the silliest hat / headgear on the day - let your imaginations run wild...!

Hedge Laying Certificates.

For all of you who have recently been on the hedge laying course....a message from Oz. If you become a member of the National Hedgelaying Society (see http://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/ for details) - then he will be able to present you with a certificate for the one day course we did with him. Once you have joined then let Oz have your membership details and he will do the rest.....nice one Oz..! Membership of the NHS is £15 a year for us younger ones....or £10 a year for senior citizens. Could be well worth it especially if you are considering entering the Island hedge laying contest next year.
Please don't forget the Winkle Street event next Monday (4th Dec)....come along and be a Green Gym Hedge Hog....! Oz will be there if you have any questions about the certificates.

Wed 29th Nov 2006 - Osborne House

This week the Green Team were back at Osborne House - the task being coppicing and hedge laying. We were working in the grounds close to the old mortuary (ominous!!!) - on a small wooded area that is bisected by a road. The plan is to coppice the whole area and to lay a hedge where the woodland boarders the road. As with lots of jobs, the majority of the work is in the preparation, so much of the time was taken up with clearing the areas surrounding the proposed hedge. As can been seen in the above photographs - work on the pleaching was well underway by the end of the session. Much of the cut material was salvaged and prepared for use during the hedge laying stage. The next time we are there we should see rapid progress in the actual laying of the hedges. Once again the weather was dry and unseasonably warm....so no complaints there...!!!!

Winkle Street - Country Skills Day.

The Green Gym is featured in the County Press - 24th November - page 11 - entitled "Open Day To Learn Old Skills". The event is to be held on the 4th December between 11am and 3 pm - Green Gym will be helping to demonstrate hedge laying and coppicing.

A quick word from Mark:- Please bring along the safety glasses you were given on the hedge laying course and can you please be there by 10:30am ready to meet and greet.....

So Gymers - don't forget to circle that day in your diaries....!

The Osborne House Water Babes...

As promised in the Osborne House posting....here are the photos of Green Gymers wearing sexy, full length rubber boots....!

Many thanks to Terry for sending in the pictures - he wins the prize for being the first to send in something for publication.




Perhaps we should be running a caption competition for these photos?

Wed 22nd Nov 2006 - Nansen Hill

The task this week was to continue the scrub clearance at the Nansen Hill site on the outskirts of Ventnor. This area had become VERY overgrown with blackthorn and bramble which needed to be cleared in order to return it to the chalk downland that it originally was. There was an excellent turn out considering that the forecast was heavy rain - which held off until around 12:30 - so we didn't get too wet...!!!!



The "before and after" shots above show what can be achieved in just one hour using only people power with hand tools! By the time the session was over, considerable progress had been made in clearing the southern end of the site - one more visit should see the area bordering the road free of scrub. This is a difficult site to work on due to the steep slope - several Green Gymers were seen to be doing "Eddy the Eagle" impersonations as they tried to haul the wood to the fire.....!

General Note.
For anyone from the Green Gym who wishes to publish anything on this blogsite - please have a word with me next Wednesday. Those of you who are on the Green Gym "round robin" e-mail listing will have my e-mail address so can e-mail me any items for publication. I am happy to receive hard copy items - as long as I can read your handwriting!
Remember - this is YOUR blog site.....please contribute to it.

Wed 15th Nov 2006 - Osborne House

This week we were back at Osborne house. The team were split into two groups - one to deal with the clearing of a pond (full of water weed) and the other to help clear flower beds in the walled garden. Once again we enjoyed good weather (the Green Gym has a reputation for picking the good days...!) - remarkably mild for mid November. Apparently there were some photographs taken at the pond site....so watch this space for sexy shots of men in rubber waders.....!!!!

"FROM LITTLE ACORNS...."

This is the first entry on the Isle of Wight Green Gym blog site!

This is an "unofficial" site - run by Green Gymers - for their own use. The official site can be accessed on www.footprint-trust.co.uk - then go to the Green Gym pages.

We hope to make this a diary of our work at the numerous sites we attend on the Isle of Wight. Any articles, pictures or almost anything can be forwarded to Bob the Blog - who will endevour to get them published on this site. So come on you guys....send in the information.....NOW..!