Wed 30th Oct 2019 - Millennium Green, Ryde. GG # 808.

Mark's Photographs.

We did the annual clearance of the butterfly meadow.

Plus we attempted to clear the pond of some of the grasses there. 

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

Wed 23rd Oct 2019 - St Thomas of Canterbury Primary School, Carisbrooke. GG # 807.

Terry's Photographs.

The school "garden"...

(Try and keep this image in your mind....)

The pre-session brief.

The woodland area.

The pathway area.

Work gets underway on all three areas.

A much improved pathway...

Remember I asked you to keep that picture in your mind...

this is how the garden looked after we had finished...!

Underneath all that bramble and weeds, the garden was 

supposed to look like this..!

The woodland area after a serious work over.

Just some of the rubbish that was collected.

(not EVERYTHING in the skip was down to us 😀)

We even had some rubbish to re-cycle.

The balls we discovered and Mark's interpretation of

the solar system - NOT to scale...!

Another new venue for Team GG..St Thomas of Canterbury Primary School although we have worked, many times, at the associated school in Ryde (perhaps they put in a good word for us?). With it being the school holidays, parking was not an issue as we could use the playground. The main work fell into three distinct area, the school garden, an approach walkway and a woodland area. In each case there was a considerable amount to cut back plus the usual rubbish to be collected. I think that Terry's excellent photographs above show exactly what progress was made and each one of those areas looked a whole lot better by the time we had finished! Mention must be made to the wonderful cake and sausage rolls that were supplied by the school staff, along with the tea and coffee. Thank you VERY much indeed.

Wed 16th Oct 2019 - Pan Mill Meadows, Newport. GG # 806.

Terry's Photographs.

A rather "damp" start to the session.

Grab a few tools...

..and get started..!

Lots and lots of bag dragging..!

The tea break team chat.

Above and below...before and after shots of the 

work done on the northern approach path.

A beautifully "manicured" meadow - all ready for

next year's growth.

A common frog found on the pathway.

We always seem to get an end of season visit to this venue...to rake up the cut meadow and give the whole area a makeover before winter sets in. We have had more than our fair share of rain in October this year but the overnight rain petered out as we started work...yay..! The majority of the task was to rake-up all the cut area and drag it off to for composting. Because the cuttings were wet, and therefore heavy, it made the task particularly hard going. The trees that were in the centre of the meadow had a light prune to remove the lower branches and trees/shrubs that were around the periphery were trimmed where needed. The entrance path to the north of the site was given particular attention (see the before and after photos above). This was a well attended session with all the given tasks being completed - well done everyone..!

Many thanks to Terry for taking the photographs this week.

Wed 9th Oct 2019 - Flowers Brook, Ventnor. GG # 805.

Terry's Photographs.

The pre-session brief...

How it looked on our arrival.

Getting to work on the cascade.

Working along the banks of the stream.

The tea break chat.

It helps if you are half mountain goat when at GG sessions 😁

How it looked as we left... a big improvement!

This week's nature shot - a European Cross Spider.

For most of the GGmers attending this week, it was a case of going "all the way to Ventnor" - why does it seem so distant..? Flowers Brook has become one of our Top Ten favourite sites to work at, it has that certain charm and tranquility about it and beautiful sea views. After a quick brief to inform us of the tasks that required our attention it was straight into the work. Most of the effort was around the stream and pond area and the water cascade - this involved cutting back some serious summer growth to a manageable level. A quick glance at the first and last photographs above will show how much was actually achieved.... well done all..! We did have a short rain shower during the morning but the heavy rain from the night before held off until later in the day. It was nice to see new faces in the crowd today, I hope that you enjoyed your first GG session and that we will be seeing you again soon.

Many thanks to Terry for the photographs this week.