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IoW GG links

To look at the Isle of Wight Green Gym web page (contains details of sessions etc) please use the following link :- www.iwgreengym.org.uk.

The link to Twitter is https://twitter.com/iwgreengym

If you would like to leave us any comments then please use this link iwgreengym@gmail.com

Wednesday, 30 November 2016

Wed 30th Nov 2016 - One Horse Field, Totland. GG # 663.

Sue's Photographs.


A very frosty start.


Raking gets underway.



Baby adder - see notes below.


Drag a bag game…. off to the compost heap.




A good few at the session considering the cold start.


Just look at that wonderful raking action…!




One of the areas we cleared.


All ready for collection by the bag man / woman.


Did we collect all that..????

You know that it is going to be a cold GG session when you have to de-ice the car before leaving home. The relatively mild autumn we have had so far has suddenly taken a turn for the worst with a cold snap. Never mind, as cold as it was (-5C overnight in Newport) Team GG were soon raking away under a beautiful blue sky. Such was the enthusiasm, that after only half an hour, some people were seen to be removing scarves and hats as they were starting to overheat..! The task was a continuation of the work carried out here just a couple of weeks ago, namely raking up the previous cut grass to deny the soil the nutrients as it rots down. It is very important to look where you are raking just in case you come across any wildlife, such as the baby adder photographed above. This one was carefully re-homed away from the footpaths and the areas we were working in. Quite a good attendance considering the weather.

Many thanks to Sue for taking the photographs this week.

Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Wed 23 Nov 2016 - Bouldnor Forest, Yarmouth. GG # 662.

Sue's Photographs.

Enroute from the car park to the work site.


Details of where we were working.


A rather grey day..


Starting the giant hair-cut..!


Now that's a real bonfire…!


What a busy bunch.




Stunning views from up there.


Cough… splutter…. cough..!



Did we clear all that..???



It was back in February, this year, that we last worked at this venue. The job was much the same as before, to chop down the vast areas of gorse and bramble, drag it to the fire and let it burn. This time we were working with some of the volunteers who look after this area - they did an amazing job at starting and feeding the fire. The reason we were tasked to cut all this back was to try and give the small patches of heather a chance to grow. The weather was much better than it had been over the previous few days when storm Angus had made thing pretty wet and VERY windy across the whole of the UK. 
Surprisingly good progress was made (see above photographs) and everyone had a good work-out.

Many thanks to Sue for the photographs this week.


Wednesday, 16 November 2016

Wed 16th Nov 2016 - Merstone Station, Merstone. GG # 661.

Terry's Photographs.


Guess where we worked this week…????


Nice hat - GG ones available - ON SALE - for £4.!!


Get raking. (And just look at that sky!!)


Forking out.





It pays to advertise...


Meanwhile, down on the compost heap.


What a poser…lol.


Just some of the clippings.


The "big boys" barrow.


Ahhhh - Christmas is almost here.


What a massive improvement…!


Our recent run on "raking jobs" continued with this week's session working on, and around, the old platform area of Merstone station. Before we arrived, Nick the Ranger had made a great job at chopping down all the summer growth so it was a simple enough job for us….. just rake it all up! There really isn't a whole lot more that I can write about that except to say that everyone worked very hard and by the time we left the site was almost cleared. The weather was truly remarkable - wonderful sunshine and the temperature well into the high teens - amazing for mid November!
For those of you who might be getting a little tired of all this raking, Mark has promised that he has something different planned for us next week.

Thanks for taking the excellent photographs this week Terry.



Wednesday, 9 November 2016

The IoW GG Official Blog is 10 years old!


Around the middle of 2006, Green Gym held a session at what used to be called Barton Middle School in Newport. During the tea break, I mentioned to Mark that it might be a nice idea if we could somehow record the work we did each week so others might be able to view it. His reply was along the lines of…."Well, if you think it can be done then feel free to have a go" - little did I know what that was going to involve! Bearing in mind that Twitter and Facebook were unheard of back then, access to what has now become "social media" was very limited. One of the few alternatives available was the Google Blogging site so, with some trepidation (and lots of errors), I managed to download the software, establish an account and published the first ever blog, the content of which is shown below…

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

"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..!

Posted by Bob the Blog at 10:26 AM  


Not exactly a memorable world event but, ten years on, we are still publishing a weekly blog page that strives to showcase the work that Team Green Gym do on a Wednesday morning. 

Over the years, people have mentioned various reasons why they log into the blog, which includes - to show their "nearest and dearest" what they have been doing, if unable to attend sessions then to catch up with what has been going on, to see what GG does before coming along to volunteer or….. just to look at what we manage to achieve in just 3 hours a week! 

By having a Blog account, you can access all sorts of statistics about the "audience". To date we have had just short of 500,000 page views from countries as far afield as the USA and China. Quite amazing when you consider that we are a just small group of volunteers, working on a small island off the south coast of England - such is the power of social media. We are all world famous celebrities!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who have contributed to the blog over the years. Without all the wonderful photographs and informative articles that have been submitted, the 570 blogs that I have written would have been far more boring than they already are. I can assure you trying to find interesting words to describe Pulling Pesky Plants for the umpteenth time is NOT for the faint hearted…! 

Please note that, as mentioned in the first ever blog, it is YOUR blog and to that end I am happy to include anything that you might send me (subject to it not being too rude!). If anyone has ideas how we might improve the content or change the format then please have a word with me, on a Wednesday, preferably over a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Well, that is enough of me rambling on, all that is left to say is…. "Bring on the next ten years". I just hope that Bob the Blog will still be turning up at GG on a Wednesday and manage to battle through the ever complex technology to bring you a weekly blog update on our amazing Green Gym sessions. Perhaps by then we will have robots to do the work and holograms to show what they did???



Wed 9th Nov 2016 - One Horse Field, Totland. GG # 660.

Terry's Photographs.



The introduction...


One pre-cut area.


The pre-session brief.


Barrows at the ready.


The "splinter group" at work.


The main work force.


Such a neat line…!


Off to the compost heap.





Such good exercise.


What a difference…!


One of the many compost heaps.


Two views of the finished job.


It has been some time since we last visited this site (I think Mark mentioned 2013?). Being at the western end of the Island and being rather exposed, it is usually windy. Today was no different with gusts in excess of 40mph during the morning. Fortunately, the overnight rain had died out so we all managed to stay dry - definitely a bonus. Well, what can I say about this session??? Once again, certain areas had been mechanically flailed and our task was to rake-up and remove the trimmings. We seem to be doing quite a lot of this recently… One small "splinter group" went off to cut back brambles and blackthorn along one of the pathways - let's hope that the name wasn't too close to the truth with all those prickles! As per usual for a GG session, a comprehensive litter pick was carried out across a wide area. The cleared area should encourage the wild flowers for next year - making the area meadow like. We have a return visit here in a couple of week's time so fingers crossed for the weather (perhaps a little less wind?)

Many thanks to Terry for taking the photographs this week.