Wed 17th June 2020 - The Riverside Centre, Newport. GG # 825.

Prior to our returning to some kind of normality on a Wednesday morning, this was the       e-mail that Mark sent to us all.....

Hi Everyone,

We have decided to trial a Green Gym outdoors ... revolutionary idea I know! So no Zoom GG this week!

So yes, this Wednesday I will be at The Riverside. Their beds and paths I'm sure need a tidy up, you're welcome to join me but no pressure, any doubts please don't come it is quite understandable. But it will give us a chance to see each other ... albeit from 2 meters away. We must keep that distance of course to keep everyone safe. If you wish to wear a facemask then that is up to you. A few things will be different.

• Please bring your own drinks and snacks - for obvious reasons the tea queue and sharing the pots etc would be tricky
• Please bring own tools and gloves - I can bring the GG tools but you may wish to bring your own, and keep to using your own, to save the risk.  We will be weeding, pruning and the usual. 

Some things remain the same

• banter - this is essential 😉
• parking - should be plenty as no public groups are using the centre - But remember you still need tolog your registration number in reception. (They have hand gel and they clean down the touch screen regularly)
• Stay as long as you wish

It is a big site so I hope we can work safely all around the building to keep that 2 meters.

So 10:00 am in the car park. 

If you decide it is too risky, no problem, we'll let you know how it goes. This is not a resumption of sessions purely a trial for this week.

Terry's Photographs. (Please note...due to camera angles, sometimes people may look to be closer than 2 metres. Be assured that everyone was aware of the regulations and was careful to comply at all times.)

"Come on....time to get to work..!"

How to do a team brief under Covid-19 regs.

Finally...we get to do some WORK.

Trying to load a bag and stay 2M apart.

Tea break with (un) social distancing.

Time to tidy up.

Now (and below) ...doesn't this look a whole lot tidier..???

With our last Green Gym session being held on March 11th 2020, it was really good for us all to meet up again and get some practical work done. Mark decided that we would try an experimental session to see if we could work safely and still comply with the Covid-19 regulations....the Riverside Centre was ideal for this purpose. There are plenty of well spaced flower beds for us to work on and... as so often when we get back here... there was PLENTY for us to be getting on with! Everyone provided their own PPE and most bought along tools from home to minimise any cross contamination. Come tea break it was BYO but very pleasant to sit down by the river and catch up with old friends. I think a few went home with sore throats after trying to hold conversations whilst remaining at a safe distance...😄. We had 16 GGmers in attendance and although there was a weather warning out for thunderstorms, it remained dry throughout. Well done to everyone who came along and let's hope that Mark can come up with some similar venues for the coming weeks.

Many thanks to Terry for submitting the photographs this week and to Mark for getting us back into the swing of things...!