Wed 14th Sept 2011 - St Swithin's Old Churchyard, Thorley.

Green Gym had somewhere new to work at this week - the "Old Church" site at Thorely. To call it the Old Church site is technically incorrect as the building is in fact a mortuary which was formed after the church that was on this site was moved closer to the village (please read Carrie's history lesson below). We had an excellent turnout - perhaps the promise of the 400th Green Gym birthday cake encouraged more people to attend...? The area was in need of a good makeover and soon there were working parties cutting and raking in all four corners of the site. As can be seen from the "before & after" photographs above - excellent progress was made around the majority of the area. The composting pile shown in the picture above was only one of two so you can judge how much was achieved. Even the couple of rain showers didn't dampen the spirits of the workforce and the excellent cake at tea break must have fuelled the second half of the session...!

Carrie's History Lesson.

This week we were working in Thorley at St Swithin's Mortuary Chapel, which is the remains of the former parish church. It has a 13th century porch with bellcote from a church built for the wife of Baldwin de Redvere Earl of Devon, which was demolished in 1871 when the modern church was built at Thorley Street, and the remains of the old church were converted into a mortunary chapel. It is built of stone rubble with a tiled roof, is gable ended and all corners have angled buttresses. The south front has a centred doorway over which is a tablet with the inscription "this mortuary chapel was built in May 1871". The ancient portion formed the bell turret of the old church of Thorley". The planked door is 19th century with a lancet window above, while the east and west sides have rectangular bell openings with dripmould below and louvred shutters. On the north side there was a double lancet window.

Many thanks to Carrie for the photographs and history lesson.

Wed 7th Sept 2011 - All Saints Church, Freshwater.

Mark's Pictures.

Carrie's Photographs.

Team GG were back out West Wight this week at All Saints Church, Freshwater. Frequent readers of this blog will know that we have visited here several times before so it was all steam ahead to continue with the work plan for the churchyard area. The tasks fell into two main areas - the bank and wall area alongside the road - and the boundary wall to the east of the site. Both of these areas were considerably overgrown and need the full attention of the GG "Cut & Hack" operators...! A glance at Carrie's before and after photographs above will show the extent of the work in the road and the wonderful views over the River Yar were revealed when we cut back the overgrown areas to the east. The weather held good for the morning and we had a excellent turnout.

A quick reminder from Mark......next week will be the 400th Green Gym session so please can we have a really good turnout and for all those who have them, please wear their GG shirts.

Many thanks to Carrie & Mark for this week's pictures.

Wed 31st Aug 2011 - "The Fort Walk", Bembridge.

As promised on last week's blog, here are the pictures of the brave GGymers who took part on the "Fort Walk". If you look at the last picture, in particular the gentleman on the right, you can see (by the wet look jeans) how high the tide was when they walked out.....!!!! Hope that the boots have dried out fully by now Bob.

Many thanks to Carrie for the photographs.

Wed 31st Aug 2011 - Ventnor Botanical Gardens.

Carrie's Photographs.

Mark's Photographs.

The IW Green Gym were busy this week helping at the Botanic Gardens in Ventnor. The tasks included maintenance on the willow dome which the group created back in 2007. Now tidy once again the dome can be enjoyed by all in the meadow area. Other tasks included some clearance of an overgrown border and work to remove the summer's growth of unwanted bramble from a large shrubby area.

Carrie's Nature Lesson.

Our find this week, which had self seeded in the compost at the Botanic
Gardens was Himalayan or Indian balsam (Impatiens Glandulifera), a relative
of the Busy Lizzie. It was introduced to British gardens from the Himalayas
in 1839 and since then has become widely naturalised and very invasive, as
it swamps native plants and erodes riverbanks. It is the tallest annual in
Britain growing up to 2 metres in height, with reddish stems and long dark
green lance-shaped leaves with toothed edges. The large brightly coloured
flowers are variable shades of purplish-pink, and occasionally white, and
their appearance has led to the alternative name of 'poor man's orchid'.
Another charming local name, 'bee-bums' has arisen, as it is just the back
end of a bee that can be seen when it visits a flower of this plant.

Many thanks to Carrie & Mark for the photographs - Mark for the editorial and Carrie for the Nature Lesson.

Congratulations to the GG members who completed the "Fort Walk" at Bembridge on Wednesday evening - Anyone got any pictures?