Wed 21st Nov 2007 - Pan Meadow.

Pan Meadow was the venue for the Green Gym this week, our second visit in a couple of months. The job was further clearance of brambles and nettles at the far end of the site between the pathway and the tree line. It is hoped this will make the site more open, so that the local vandals stop burning the bridge! Many thanks to Carrie for the editorial and pics.

Wed 14th Nov 2007 - Nansen Hill Ventnor.

This week we were working with the Rangers at Nansen Hill, in a different spot from our usual haunt. This time we were right at the top of the hill, clearing an area of scrub including elder, buddleia and blackthorn, to help regenerate the chalk grassland. As you can see, it is amazing what thirty people can do in a morning! The Island has a nationally significant concentration of chalk grassland sites, covering approximately 10% of the South East total. These grasslands are one of the richest and most distinctive wildlife habitats in the country, with many species of plants and invertebrates restricted only to this habitat. Such species include the brown hare, skylark, Adonis blue, stripe-winged grasshopper and early gentian, and we even found some of the latter when returning to the van.

Many thanks to Carrie for the text and pics...... Bob the Blog was fitting a kitchen this Wednesday.... :-(

Happy Birthday Green Gym Blog....!

I happened to look back through the archived blog pages and discovered that the 14th November 2007 will be the First Birthday of the Green Gym blog site. When you scroll back through the weeks, it is amazing just how much we have achieved to help the various groups that we work for. I think everyone concerned deserves a pat on the back for all their efforts.......Well done to all.....!

As a whole year has gone by since the first blog was published, perhaps it is a good time to reflect on what we actually get from the blog itself. I started it as an informal way to publish what the Green Gymers do and to allow people who don't get along every week to catch up with our progress. It was always imagined that it would evolve into whatever we wanted it to become but at the first anniversary it still is in the same format as it was when first started. If everyone is happy with that, then I will continue as before but....... if anyone has any ideas about what they would like to see included, then please let me know.

I would like to thank Carrie and Hilary for the wonderful pictures that are published every week and the Green Gym committee for all the hard work they do behind the scenes to make our Wednesday mornings so special.

Wed 7th Nov 2007 - Botanical Gardens at Ventnor

As the editor of this blog site, I am faced with the weekly task of trying to put a few words to the excellent pictures that have been taken by Carrie. After a few weeks it is difficult to come up with something original to describe the hard work that has been completed by the Green Gym Team. This week it can all be summed up by the pictures above - and just a few words.....

1. Take a row of VERY tall willow trees that were growing out of control.

2. Equip the GG Team with saws and loppers.

3. Stand back and watch in amazement as the trees are reduced to neat piles ready for going into the shredder.

Oh ....and just to fill in the time, we trimmed up the willow dome that was constructed earlier in the year. So, all in all, a good morning's work...!

Wed 31st Oct 2007 - Sandown CoE Primary School.

This week saw us at Sandown CoE Primary School, creating a sensory garden for the children and making a dragon....! The area planned for the garden needed a lot of preparation work for which the school had produced a plan. This involved us marking out a circular area (lawn) with an outer area being divided into four. The area designated for the vegetable plot was dug over - as was the area to be planted with bedding plants. A third area was cleared of debris, which included some heavy slabs, this will be covered with bark chippings. The forth area needed to be covered over with a membrane and will be filled with gravel when the purse allows it...!

A couple of earth filled sinks and two enormous tractor tyres (see pics above) were resited along with several pots that were filled with daffodil bulbs and two azalea plants. If all that wasn't enough...... we also put up a bird box and barrowed all the resultant debris into their compost heap. PHEW...!!!!!

Many thanks to Cub Reporter Carrie for both the editorial AND the pics this week. She will be asking for a pay rise soon - perhaps an extra biscuit or two at coffee time?