Wed 27th March 2019 - Quarry Road Allotments, Ryde. GG # 778.

Mark's Photographs.

Another new location this week as we had been asked to help with the local Armed Forces & Veterans Breakfast Club's newly acquired allotment plot on Quarry Road, in St John's, Ryde. This will be an excellent resource for the group to encourage social activities, where they can obtain support and build friendships within the community. And importantly reap the rewards of growing their own produce.

https://www.afvbc.net/clubs/isle-of-wight/ 

https://afvbc.com/club/isle_of_wight_ryde_armed_forces_veterans_breakfast_club 

As with all new projects it can take extra effort to get things off the ground, this is where we came in. We cleared a path across the plot to where they will have their seating area. we pruned the various fruit trees in the 'John Case Remembrance Orchard'.  Helped clear a fallen tree and dug out 2 new plots ready for new raised beds.
In addition a party was able to litter pick the Pig Leg Lane nature reserve which is of course just along the road!
All in all a busy morning. Everyone enjoyed too the peaceful and beautiful allotments. There were some impressively well maintained plots. 

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

Wed 20th March 2019 - Quarr Abbey, Binstead. GG # 777.

Terry's (numerous!) Photographs.

A map showing where we were working today.

The workers assemble

A quick tour of the various (and numerous) jobs.

And...off we go...!

Nice views of the abby.

The all important tea break.

The "Boss" returns from his adventures.

Yes, there were LOTS of weeds 😬

The chickens were delighted with the worms we dug up.

Just some of the areas that we tackled.

Although we have worked at Quarr a few times in the past, this was the first time we were in the walled garden area. For once, we had plenty of easy parking and it was a short stroll from there along to the work site. This session was for the Southern Housing Group's Quarr Abbey Gardening Project who were there to "point us in the right direction". The jobs were spread across the site but most of them involved digging and the removal of some pretty deep rooted weeds..! Certainly the section I was working on was almost solid clay although the photographs above would indicate that some of the others found the going easier. Tea break was a rather lavish affair with a BBQ to cook sausages and bacon with lots of other goodies available - well done to the staff who cared for us so well. This was a particularly well attended session and although there was a little drizzly rain at the start, it soon dried up but the sun didn't favour us with it's presence.

Many thanks to Terry for the excellent photographs.

Wed 13th Mar 2019 - Windy Corner, Blackgang / Niton. GG # 776.

Bob's photographs.

The scene that met us on arrival in the car park.

Sheltering behind the cars...

Work gets underway.

What an amazing way to clear the "arisings".!

The more we cleared then the higher we had to climb.

Tea break with a rather dramatic back drop.

One very good point about going along to GG sessions is that you will always learn something. What did we learn today...? Well, when you have a weather warning as shown below....

AND the name of the venue is...Windy Corner....then find a good excuse not to attend..! As with most new GG venues, everyone wanted to come along and see what it was like, so the car park soon filled up. Having to get changed in a howling gale was "interesting" then it was time to shelter behind the cars and await the arrival of the National Trust wardens who were our 'employers" for the day. Albeit a bit late, they arrived with some impressive machinery (see the tractor photos above) and we were tasked to remove all the scrub from a rather steep section of hillside. Everyone was soon hacking away at the bramble and blackthorn, the really good bit being that you only had to throw it down the hillside when it was easily removed by the tractor with it's front loading grabber. Throwing the cut items proved a bit problematic as the wind often blew it exactly where you didn't want it to go...! Come tea break, we had made excellent progress and if anyone managed to remember to take a photograph at the end of play, please let me have it for inclusion.

In spite of the wind, everyone seemed to enjoy working at the new venue, certainly the approach road and scenery from the carpark was well worth the effort to attend.

Oh..we also learnt another lesson... a tractor with a grab bucket is a great way to remove cut material, so please can you add one to your "wish list" Mark..!

Several people were asking about the "road to nowhere" so you might be interested in the following links....

Blackgang - Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackgang

Old Photos of Blackgang - Francis Frithhttps://www.francisfrith.com › Isle of Wight › Blackgang

There are loads more sites on the net as many people have photographed this area over the years..!

Wed 6th March 2019 - Sandown Railway Station. GG # 775.

Mark's Photographs.

You can see just how overgrown it all was..!

Never too much Health and Safety 😏

Just shout when you want us to stop.

Already looking better...

..and the last sweep through.

Nice hat..!

Although we have visited this venue several times in the past, it has been some time since we were last working at the station. Having all met up in the car park, it was off to the Lake side of the platform to work on the sloping ramp that leads up from the road. There is a tiered garden area adjoining the pathway which looked as though it hadn't seen much attention since we last gave it a make-over, some years ago 😏 Team GG soon got stuck into the job and...with the problem gate padlock stopping easy access to the adjacent roadway area...a plucky few scrambled over the fence to deal with the arisings. Having to keep the walkway open at all times for pedestrians and rail users kept us on our toes but somehow we managed it..! Come tea time, it was back through the tunnel and into the Gaslight cafe for hot drinks and wonderful cake. Several GGmers remarked on how comprehensive (and reasonably priced) the menu was.... so much so that some were going to eat there at lunchtime.
Post tea break it was back to completing the task. The weather was rather grey and overcast but the forecasted rain held off until after 1pm.

Many thanks to Ali at the Gaslight cafe for the excellent service and refreshments at tea break.🍰👍.

Thanks to Mark for taking the photographs this week.