Wed 29th March 2017 - The Railway Station, Sandown. GG # 678.

Mark's Photographs.

Working in the main car park.

Partaking of refreshment at tea break.

Group shot to promote The People's Project for West Wight

Sports Centre. See Mark's note below.

Working over on the Lake side of the railway line.

The main car park work completed and looking good.

Was it Larry Grayson who had the catch phrase - "What a grey day!"? Well, that certainly summed-up our Wednesday morning GG session this week, all very overcast. Having all met up in the station car park (lots of empty parking spaces) Mark gave us a briefing on what needed our attention. Part of the work was to the Lake side of the railway track and those who have a very long memory might have remembered that we worked there some EIGHT years ago - (see this link Wed 26th August - Sandown Station. ) The other task was to try and sort out the planters in front of the main station building/ cafe. It was here that the retaining wall, made of railway sleepers (what else would they use..?) had fallen over in several places and needed some serious reconstruction work. At both work areas the shrubs were given a light trim, weed removal and a good litter pick. We were supposed to be top mulching the flower beds but we never did find out what happened to the mulch delivery. It was fortunate that it was rubbish bin collection day and the operatives were kind enough to dispose of all the litter we had collected. Tea break was held at the on-site cafe, called The Gas Light Cafe, where the ladies made us feel very welcome - many thanks ladies. As we started to clear-up at the end of the session the drizzle started again which soon turned into heavier rain but…by then….most of us were in the car heading home….phew!

A note from Mark.

Some links...

Carole was promoting the People's Project bid which West Wight Sports Centre have entered and would appreciate us to all vote for please.  https://www.thepeoplesprojects.org.uk/projects/view/c-o-o-k-creating-opportunities-in-our-kitchen

We were for the Isle of Wight Community Rail Partenership, Bobby Lock who is the project leader was very appreciative of all of our work. You might be interested in their facebook page, there is news regarding the future from the new franchise holder for Island Line... https://www.facebook.com/Isle-of-Wight-Community-Rail-Partnership-172794072798566/

We enjoyed a cuppa in here https://www.facebook.com/The-Gaslight-Cafe-1557662654528717/

Many thanks

Mark

Thanks for the photographs Mark.

Wed 22nd Mar 2017 - All Saints' Church, Freshwater. GG # 677.

Terry's Photographs.

One empty van…but not for long!

Two wheeled barrows are no good on rough surfaces.

One…two…lift..!

Car boot sale today?

Preparations for if the rain got any worse.

Lynnbottom Tip…here we come!

(Just look at that blue sky … Grrrr!)

Trimming back along the boundary with the road.

We dragged this boat as far as we could.

Now, doesn't that look ship shape?

It has been some time since we last visited this venue but it has always been very popular with GG members. This fact was admirably demonstrated by today's session when so many people showed up in what only be described as a downpour! As the football pundits say…. "it was a game of two halves" torrential rain to start but after tea-break (half time?) the sun shone through. As nice as the sun was, it came a little too late for most of us who were soaked to the skin by then. Our task could not have been simpler - to transport large amounts of scrap material from one side of the churchyard and then load it into the waiting van, located by the main entrance. Not so much Green Gym but more Steptoe and Son meets Scrapheap Challenge..! (see attached photos). Much of the "scrap" was of a nautical theme so, being Green Gymers, as much as possible was re or up-cycled rather than just landfilling it.
Other members of the group did trimming work on the overhanging foliage from the road that runs adjacent to the churchyard wall. A big WELL DONE to all those who turned up today - hope that your clothing will dry out for next Wednesday.

Many thanks to Terry for supplying the photographs this week.

Wed 15th March 2017 - Arreton Down SSSI. GG # 676.

Terry's Photographs.

The long "yomp" to the work site. "Are we there yet?"

A rather over-grown pathway.

Opening things up.

A bit of light pruning!

Please…no jokes about FOUR CANDLES…lol.

Working on the smaller clumps.

The boss keeps an eye on us.

All opened up.

The "real" boss..!

It has been a while since we last visited this venue but it was nice to get back. We might have thought we were in training for Walk the Wight when we left the car park and headed down to the far south east of the down - it certainly was a good stroll! As we often do, Team GG split into two working parties with one group working on clearing undergrowth from around a stepped pathway - the others tackled some of the clumps of blackthorn and bramble that seem to sprout-up everywhere. The thing that was a little different this time around…. we had to clear and stack all the material before starting the fire as cleared areas were somewhat at a premium. As you will see from the photographs above, everything went very much to plan and this pathway should be far more accessible now. The session started in rather grey/misty conditions but the sun soon broke through and tea break on the southern side of the down had a distinctly summer feel about it. Nice…! As per usual wonderful views across the Island from this vantage point. Only one real downside, (excuse the pun) - the large amount of "doggy land mines" along the pathways. Is it too much to ask that the dog walkers pick up behind their four legged friends and then put it in the supplied dog poo bins..????

Many thanks to Terry for taking the photographs this week.

Wed 8th Mar 2017 - Copse Mead Nature Reserve, Lake. GG # 675.

Terry's Photographs.

The sign that says it all…

Off to the work sites.

Avoid stepping on the wonderful spring flowers.

"And today we will be "trimming" this laurel hedge.

Bow saws at the ready - and they are off.

Starting the arisings pile.

Trimming a clump of hawthorn.

Oh Dear..! We seem to have got carried away with the "trimming".

The cut pile grows...

Dealing with the stumps.

Giving one of the boundaries a makeover.

Oh my…Did we cut all that?

A tea-break discussion.

Removing ivy from the apple trees.

Cutting the undergrowth from around the fruit trees.

This was our second visit to this wonderful nature reserve - the first was back at the start of July 2016. On arrival it was so nice to see that the work we had done previously had been maintained and… in some places improved! So many time we return to find that everything is as bad as (or even worse) than before we had ever started. Two of the site wardens were on hand to explain exactly what the tasks would be and we were soon working at the many jobs they had pointed out. On our last visit, we had spent some time cutting back a rather unruly laurel hedge but this time we were asked to take it back to ground level. This is just the sort of job that GGmers excel at and by the time tea break came around, the whole hedge was reduced to a huge pile of arisings, neatly arranged for later collection. As can be seen in the photographs above, the team was spread across the reserve tackling a variety of tasks. With the bird nesting season just around the corner, special care was taken to ensure that we were not disturbing any early starters. Although the wipers were on fast setting during the trip out there, by the time 10am came around the precipitation had dropped off to a light drizzle and remained reasonably dry throughout. We look forward to returning here in the not too distant future.

Many thanks to Terry for the excellent photographs this week.