Wed 29th Jan 2020 - All Saints' Church - Freshwater. GG # 818.

Terry's Photographs.

Time to grab your tools of choice....

As you can see..this area was well overgrown!

Team GG does battle with the bramble.

A bit of "light pruning" 😊

Disposing of the arisings.

Looking good.

Tea and (wonderful) cakes.

A final shot - showing a job well done.

It has been a while since we have visited this venue but....with good weather forecasted I think it would be fair to say that Team GG were looking forward to getting back here. Island Roads confused the issue somewhat by rather poor temporary road signs - which would have you going around in circles unless you chose to ignore them 😏. The task was simple - "just clear that area over there" - that is the sort of instruction Team GG totally understand. Obviously great care was taken as we started to uncover grown-in grave stones and a light-footed approach was need to avoid stepping on the numerous spring flowers that were starting to show through. Rather than try and explain what we did, I refer you to the "start and finish" photographs above - what an amazing difference...! Tea break was taken inside the church (muddy boots OFF) where we were invited to enjoy a wide variety of yummy cakes with our tea and coffee - thank you ladies. One of our number was celebrating a recent birthday so we also had a wonderful birthday cake to munch our way through. I am surprised that anyone was able to walk, let alone do any work, after the tea break session 😊

Many thanks to Terry for his photographs, to the ladies for the cakes...and to Gwen for the wonderful birthday cake.

Wed 22nd Jan 2020 - Pig Leg Lane, Ryde. GG # 817.

Where we were working today.

A BIG area to rake over..!

Team GG hard at it.

Tea break and the usual "Team Talk"

Well raked and all ready for spring to arrive.

Find of the day... a vole, which was carefully re-homed.

The day dawned rather grey and mizzly (a Carol Kirkwood weather term - Google it..!) and although the car gave me a Black Ice warning, today looked to be frost free unlike the previous two mornings. It does not matter where you choose to park, it is always a bit of a stroll to get to the centre of this site (unless your name happens to be Tony 😏) where we all meet up. The task was simple, just rake up all the cut material so this area can revert to grass meadow come the arrival of spring. The session was well attended and with everyone spread out across the land, it was surprising just how much was cleared. Hopefully we will return here later in the year to see the benefit of our efforts.

Wed 15th Jan 2020 - Bouldnor Forest, Yarmouth. GG # 816.

The sight that greeted us on arrival....

and NO...we didn't cut it all up with a bow saw..!

Mark's Photographs.

A much improved weather situation after we (eventually)

started work.

We were originally scheduled to be working at Sandown Meadows this week, but due to the extreme rainfall experienced recently, it decided prudent that we should be diverted to Bouldnor Forest. Having had overnight weather warnings for heavy rain and high winds, the drive to the session was "interesting" with hedge to hedge flooding on some parts of the main road. Turning off along the forest track, we didn't get very far before being stopped by rather large tree blocking our progress...! Fortunately, the rangers had their chainsaws handy and they made a much quicker job of it than we could have done with our trusty bow saws..! Having said that, we didn't get to the car park until almost 10:45 so it was decided to have an early tea break before heading out to start cutting some gorse and getting a fire going. As can be seen in the photograph above, the weather improved dramatically with the grey leaden sky giving way to patches of blue and some sunshine. Not a well attended session but a huge WELL DONE to those who battled through 👍

Many thanks to Mark for contributing the photographs.

Wed 8th Jan 2020 - Quarr Abbey, Fishbourne/Binstead. GG # 815.

Terry's Photographs.

Mark's Photographs.

Today a good number gathered for the first IWGG of the year, in the estate of Quarr Abbey. A welcome visit, it has been a little while. The mild weather and lovely location along with the excellent task of being able to get stuck in to scrub removal got some favourable comments from the gang.

 The perimeter of the woodland is marked by a drainage ditch, flowing with water not only from the adjacent pasture but also, more interestingly,  runoff from the Abbey roof itself. The clearing of this ditch line was today's job.

Many thanks to Terry and Mark for this week's photographs and to Mark for writing the editorial.

Happy New Year - 2020.

Please do NOT forget that the first GG session of 2020 will be held at Quarr Abbey

 on the 8th January 

Come along and burn off those Crimble cals 😀