Wed 25th Sept 2013 - Heytesbury Road Recreation Ground, Yarmouth.

The piece of land we have returned to work on this week forms a little buffer zone between the fun and games of the Recreation Ground in Yarmouth and the designated nature reserves of Rofford Marsh.  

We cleared the perimeter ditch of undergrowth to ensure there is good drainage and cleared and raked off much of the summers growth from the meadow area.  This was a piece of land rich in wild flowers and buzzing with many insects of course too during the summer and our management this week will hopefully ensure next year it will look just as good.

We took the opportunity to unravel our new banner!  Thanks go to The West Wight Landscape Partnership for buying this for us, it will certainly help us spread the message about what we get up to each week.  Look out for it popping up near you of a Wednesday morning!  Also thanks to Sue for designing the banner, it looks great.

Many thanks to Mark for the editorial and photographs this week.

Wed 18th Sept 2013 - Northwood House, Cowes.

This week saw us at Northwood House in Cowes, which is now a Charitable Trust, depends a lot on 
their volunteers.  This hard working group put much time and effort into maintaining the house and park from painting and decorating to clearing drains, collecting leaves and mending the windows. Our task this week was to cut back the bay hedge in front of the church, which is swamping the lovely border shrubs.  They also needed the height reduced, so that the view of the church is opened up for people to enjoy. So we set to with lopper and saws, and gathered all the cut pieces into neat piles for later removal.  Once cut back there was a lot of litter including glass bottles and cans, so black plastic bags were used for their removal. During this task we discovered a charity tin for the Hospice (which had obviously been thrown into the hedge) and it was still full of money.  One of our group kindly agreed to drop this back into the Hospice shop, so we hope this will swell their coffers a bit more.

STOP PRESS...! There is a nice write-up and photograph of us all at the 10th Anniversary do in this week's County Press.....page 21 (I think!)

Many thanks to Carrie and Mark for the photographs and editorial this week.

Wed 11th Sept 2013 - Fort Victoria - 500th GG and 10th Anniversary!

Sue and Terry's Photographs.

Alison's Photographs.

Tony's Photographs.

                                     

Spotted in the woods - NOT "bush tucker" for the BBQ!

Our GG session this week was extra special..... it was the 500th GG session here on the Island and also our 10th Anniversary...! As the first ever session was held at Fort Victoria, it was fitting that we returned there for this most auspicious event. Needless to say, there was a huge attendance which had NOTHING to do with the BBQ, scruptious home made cakes and all sorts of "goodies" both for the tea break and the after session party. Somehow, we even managed to squeeze in a few hours work which included a few "tidy-up" jobs up in the woods and the fitting of a new gate at the picnic site. The gate had a sign recognising the special date for GG (look at the photographs above) and a lot of work was involved in sinking the 6" square oak posts and hanging the gate correctly. All GGmers were presented with a commemorative wooly hat to mark the occasion...! Lots of photographs taken so keep look-out for them in future issues of the County Press, Beacon etc NOTE! There is a nice write-up and photograph in the County Press, dated 20th Sept, page 21.

Many thanks to all the people who brought along the delicious food and drink, to the BBQ chefs, to the committee for the hats and....last but by no means least - to Mark, for making everything GG possible.

Hip, Hip, Hooray .........Hip, Hip Hooray,....... Hip, Hip, Hooray.......! Roll on our 20th Birthday.

Many thanks to Sue, Terry, Alison and Tony for the photographs this week.

Wed 4th Sept 2013 - NatureZone, Blackwater.

To Blackwater this week and a visit to Naturezones - a local nature educational establishment - where the gang were able to get stuck in to a number of different tasks.  Talking of getting stuck in, when the rains come the ground can get a little sticky near the stream, understandably, so we set to and moved a whole pile of crushed hardcore for path creation.  

Then there were the hay bales, they needed to be stacked.  And a fine harvest of hay this year with the perfect weather we've been enjoying allowing the crop to dry well.

Lastly we have created a bog garden here in corner of the field.  All to encourage wet loving plants and invertebrates.

Many thanks to Mark for the editorial and photographs this week.