Isle of Wight Green Gym - AGM.

The following message is from Mark.....

The AGM has come around again, this year we shall be holding it after a Green Gym session at the West Wight Sports Centre on the 23rd of April. Please join us if you are able.

so please make a note of the date in your diaries.

Ventnor Botanical Gardens - Monument Update.

Carrie has been doing some research and has come up with an excellent suggestion for the use of the monument that we discovered. It appears that it might have been a mounting point for a heliograph - which is an instrument for measuring the hours of sunshine. The sun's rays are focused through a glass sphere onto a graduated card. This records the hours of sun in any given day - much like using a magnifying glass to burn paper! View the following link for a bigger picture http://www.smg.gov.mo/dm/equip/e_sunshine.htm

Wed 26th March 2008 - Ventnor Botanical Gardens.

Do you remember those adventure movies where the hero chops his way through a jungle to find an Aztec temple? This week's task was very similar - no temple here but we did find a monument! On arrival at the Botanical Gardens we were show yet another (see previous entries for this venue!) very overgrown area that needed the "tender touch" of the GGmers. An excellent attendance assured that the tools were a blur and the designated area was soon giving up it's long buried secrets. These included a nice wooden park bench, the monument shown above and several stone walls. The cleared material was sorted for shreading and two bonfires were started to dispose of the bramble, ivy, weeds etc. Once again, the weather gods smiled upon us and the forecasted rain arrived about 10 minutes after we finished.

The Monument.

This week I have a request. Having unearthed the monument, we have no idea why or when it was errected here. It is around 2 metres tall and surrounded by a metal railing with a gated access. It has excellent sea views to the east and overlooks the meadow area which form part of the coastal path. Any information would be gratefully received - please use the comments link below.

Many thanks to Carrie for the pics.

Wed 19th March 2008 - Osborne House

This week the task for the lean, mean, Green Gym Team was at Osborne House. We were back working on the woodland area where we have been several times before (to the north of the mortuary!) to continue the hedge laying and woodland management. The pictures above do not reflect the excellent attendance - the outstanding weather (bright sunshine - again!) and popular venue being a big factor there. The hedge laying is difficult here as we are trying to incorporate beech trees, some 4" to 6" in diameter, into the finished item. The woodland areas to either side of the hedges are really starting to look "cleared" with many nature habitat piles being made with the cut down material. The bluebells and daffodils really do look a picture now they have space to grow.

We would like to thank Debs for the way she has looked after us on our visits to this site and wish her well with her new appointment.

Many thanks to Carrie for the majority of the pictures - and thank you to June for the photo of Carrie..... See - you did get your picture in the blog...!

Sandown CoE Primary School - Update.

For all of you who have been watching the progress of the sensory garden project at this school, here is the latest update. Today (Wed 19th March 2008) the garden was offically opened by Geoff Hughes (of TV fame) with many of the people who had made this project possible attending. Once again - a huge WELL DONE to all those GG members - some of which are shown in the picture - who have put so much work into making this such a success.

Thank you June for the photograph.

Wed 12th March 2008 - Fort Victoria.

This week the GG Team were over at Fort Victoria and we invented a new sport - Extreme Path Building. The rules for the game go something like this:-

1. Get the Rangers to deliver several tonnes of limestone ballast at the bottom of a pathway (note that the pathway has to resemble the north face of the Eiger).

2. Take numerous buckets, tubs, wheelbarrows etc and transport the ballast from the bottom to the top - repairing the steps as you go. This can be competitive.....most loads carried, heaviest load, quickest accent/decent etc.

3. Do all this on an exposed coastline when there is a force 8/9 gale blowing.

4. IF you do manage to survive the above then saw down a few trees that have fallen across the pathways and build a fire (in the gale!).

Now we are all TV stars, I wonder if we can sell this idea to Sky TV - it must be more interesting than some of the reality progammes they show at present....!

Many thanks to Carrie (she of The One Show fame!) for the excellent pics.

BBC TV & Happy 10th Birthday Green Gym

The One Show was true to it's word and the piece about the Green Gym was shown this evening (11th March 2008). If you missed it, then I have it recorded on dvd and you can watch it on the BBC i Player site. Try the following link to get you to the nearest page

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b0094zk7.shtml?filter=txdate%3A11-03&filter=txslot%3Aevening&start=2&scope=iplayerlast7days&version_pid=b0094zj8

Once you have clicked on the arrow to start the video, then go to the slider at the bottom and move it along to around the 17 minute point. This saves you watching the rest of the programme.

Don't blame me if it doesn't work........!

Although it was only a few minutes long, everyone seemed to be working very hard and the idea of the Green Gym was certainly shown in a good light. Well done to all those who attended on the day. Buddy has asked me to add that, now he is a tv star, he will be available for paw prints at the next GG (tomorrow)!







As mentioned on the programme, today is the 10th birthday of the Green Gym so - Happy Birthday to you - Happy Birthday to you....etc etc etc....! Carol & Mark are in London today at the birthday bash, let's hope that they bring us all back a piece of birthday cake.

BBC TV - The One Show - Updated.

I have just had an e-mail from Mark to say that "our" programme is due to be screened on the One Show - BBC 1 - Tuesday 11th March 2008. Fingers crossed that the information is correct....! I will set the dvd recorder and keep an eye on the schedules to try and capture the IoW GG minutes of fame.

Wed 5th March 2008 - Alverstone Marsh

Our task this week was all to do with hedging. We split into two teams - one to plant up a new hedge and the other to manage some old hedging along the footpath. The new hedge was to replace elms that had been damaged by Dutch Elm disease. The original hedge had been grubbed out and a new stock control fence installed to stop the animals escaping - or eating the new plants..! In total some 50 cuttings were dug in to the prepared soil - each protected by a weed control barrier, rabbit guard and a stake to keep it upright. Hopefully this will give them a good start in life and we will be back in a few years time to lay a healthy hedge. The weather was wonderful - a warm sunny day with just a breath of wind - amazing for early March.

Many thanks to Carrie for the pictures.......the camera worked perfectly this week...!

REMINDER......The TV programme showing us working over at Yarmouth should be shown sometime next week. Still no exact details from Mark - so I suggest that we ALL set out video recorders for ALL the BBC1 One Show programmes next week. That we we might just get to see what it was all about. I will publish an extra blog if we find out the details before the actual day so - Watch This Space........