Ten brilliant volunteers turned up at Aldermoor this evening ready to tackle nature head-on—and tackle they did! Finn, Laura, and Derek gave the entrance hedge a sharp new look, while Sarah, Amanda, Beck, and Ronna took on the wild willow by the pond, cutting it back and hauling the branches to the chipper like absolute pros. Meanwhile, Ellie and Anna (with a cameo from Wilson) took on the compost bay transfer— never did we think the whole bay could be done, but Ellie and co were determined and they powered through until the task was complete! Laura and Amanda also got stuck into tearing cardboard for future composting. It was fantastic to see Anna, Beck, and Ronna back for round two, and even better to wrap up with a sliver of daylight—possibly our last light-filled task of the season! Great job everyone!

Tonight we returned to Aldermoor Farm for a slimy adventure: a slug and snail hunt! Richard greeted us with expert tips on how to track down our slippery targets, and then we were off - headlamps on, eyes peeled, and spirits high. I think it was Ronna that kicked off our hunt, finding the first slug!

Along the way, we were treated to a magical evening soundtrack of hooting owls and even spotted a fox darting through the undergrowth. The hunt itself was full of squeals - some of delight, others of mild horror as slugs emerged from their hiding spots.

Julia and Yujiu proved to be top-tier slug spotters, uncovering some impressively chunky specimens. We also had a fun language exchange, swapping the English and Chinese names for a woodlouse. Beck, a spider 'enthusiast', kept us informed about the eight-legged friends we encountered.

Wilson joined a little later and struck gold, or rather, goo - finding the biggest slug pile of the night nestled on a piece of old fruit. Claire and Sarah bravely stepped in to do the slimy honours of collecting them!

By the end of the evening, we had amassed a glistening pile of slugs and snails - lucky ducks indeed!

A warm welcome to Yujiu, Ronna, and Beck on their first GoodGym session. We hope to see you again soon!

This evening, six GoodGym volunteers headed to Aldermoor Community Farm to lend a hand with some much-needed hedge trimming. Armed with shears and plenty of enthusiasm, we tackled the overgrown hedge along the farm’s boundary. In just one hour, we managed to complete the task - our best effort yet! It was a satisfying job that combined teamwork, fresh air, and a good arm workout!

Kudos to Ellie and Abby for running 4 miles to the task and to Robert for an hours walk!

Some of the team arrived early to do some hill reps ... not sure how many they did, but its a steep hill so hats off to them!

This evenings task was to weed Bed 6 and the adjacent paths and another path which was almost hidden under long grass and comfrey.

Everything which wasn't a crop had to go... except for the Sunflower!!!! Thanks to Abby the Sunflower survived 😊

We were a triumphant team of 10 tonight and completed the task in the hour!

We finished the evening with cake provided by Ellie to remember her Gran, who would have had her 93rd birthday today.

We were on a slug hunting mission... the pesky slugs are eating the crops so GG to the rescue!

We met Liz who armed us with knives, buckets, gloves and head torches and then we started to slug hunt!

edit... Laura arrived with a slug so she was already well away 😂

Tricky to find in the dry conditions but as it got darker they started to appear... and after 2 hours of hunting we had found over 300 slugs!!!!

It was a fun evening with funny sounds of squeals from close slug encounters...slimy little suckers.

The ducks will have a lovely breakfast!🦆

Super chuffed to see our two newest members Steve and Laura. You doubled our efforts this evening, thankyou and thankyou all for staying so late 😊

Its amazing how much woodchip you can move when everybody "chips" in 😊

We had the task of woodchipping a path that runs around the edge of the farm - with the instruction of "put plenty on" - so thats what we did! We also weeded an area and woodchipped that too!

No lovely Richard on hand this evening to share his knowledge, but really pleased that he was able to have an evening off and GoodGym were able to successfully complete the task.

Awesome work Barrow Buddies - thankyou 👍