Low tide on the Thames - we headed out with boards and buckets, paddles and picks, to clear a small part of the Thames of some of its plastic waste. Mud aplenty!

We always enjoy a trip to the vibrant Powerstation youth club in Mortlake and this evening was no different as we ran through windy streets towards the centre, enjoyed some laminating and a chat about roller discos and youth mindset before heading back into the distinctly darker evening!

After a wet start to Saturday, the sun came out for our monthly trip to the Ham Lands, where we met Sharon and her merry band to do some good in nature.

This week’s task was taking up the surface muck after the tractors had been through to remove a patch of wild clematis. It was satisfying work, although with plenty of rakes and only one fork we were gathering the muck into piles faster than we could fork it into the bags.

Nevertheless, we made good progress, dragging the heavy canvas bags 100m or so to deposit in a waste area. As we neared completion Sharon called for a tea break and we stopped for a well earned rest and a cuppa and biscuit.

We’ll be back at the Ham Lands next month on the 10th October. Sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/goodgym-richmond-helping-the-happy-ham-landers-0c77efce-4924-4f58-b321-3513b956ac7f

This evening we headed to our sponsored riverside plot at the Three Pigeons. We go every month but this one was different as we were saying goodbye to a very special GoodGym Richmond member: Anita

Anita has been a member since 2017, was the first Richmond member to hit 500 good deeds and is already 150 beyond that. Beyond how much Anita has done for the community, she has been instrumental in the taking on, designing, leveling up and maintaining of our riverside plot. On task nights that means instructions with military precision but behind the scenes there has been even more work, liasing with the council, getting plant donations, planning task nights to make the most of them, and single-handedly looking after the area through drought periods and special events.

Although there is sadness at Anita's leaving as she heads off to an exciting new chapter in Swansea, the evening was a celebration of all that Anita has done - including her signature tasks: watering from the river and weeding with table knives! You can see more of what we got up to here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOX_wlTCBPT/?igsh=cDYxanUzbm43eXJ5

❤️Thank you so much Anita, from all of us and everyone who has walked past the arcade and Three Pigeons ans enjoyed the results of her hard work. ❤️

An astonishing amount of planting and a little bit of ‘watering in’ packed into this Monday lunchtime Buccleuch Gardens mission. All the new plants were sourced for free, mainly by division from established perennial plants.

Woodruff around the benches at the far end of the Arcade;

Campanula in sunny/crevassed spots in the Arcade rockery and beside some of the benches;

Stachys, divided from where it is thriving in Arcade Rockery, relocated to more than a dozen sunny spots including empty spots in the Rockery and between three benches.

More planting in Buccleuch Gardens, this time orange Day Lilies (Hemerocallis ) which may be OK in a couple of dry, shaded spots where we have repeatedly failed to get anything to grow.