Ben joined Dan and Gordon plus James and a student from UoM for their monthly Saturday tasks.

This week, we were at Kale Street to litterpick, clear up, trim the lavender, and plant lots of bulbs. Helped by new tools, loppers, electric trimmers, and purpose-built bulb planters, we were efficient in making the area look much more welcoming for locals to use the space.

Following that, we went along to Mancunian Way site to weed, litterpick, and trim some of the hawthorn/blackthorn branches, with the cuttings eventually going towards a dead hedge nearby.

Productive session and the next one is on 22nd November on the Scouts allotment plot.

Gaynor and Ben went along to help Ardwick Climate Action for their regular Saturday volunteering slot.

This time, we were in St Saviour's graveyard, soon to be the Lydia Becker space as part of the existing green routes overseen by Ardwick Climate Action 🌳

Initially we picked up any litter in the area, culminating in 4 bags plus some larger items 🚮

Most of the task involved clearing a corner of the graveyard 🪦 of young trees 🌳 that had taken root between the grave stones. Armed with loppers, secateurs, and saws, plus a bouncy Juno, we made good progress and filled 3 big rubble sacks of branches and trunks to be reused at a garden or green refuse centre (no waste here!)

Once cleared, the tools were collected, litter reported to keep Manchester tidy, and we said our goodbyes 👋

Divya and Ben joined Gordon, Dan, and Colleen (sp) for the monthly weekend volunteering session with Ardwick Climate Action 🌳

Today, we were clearing the site near the Mancunian Way of weeds, rubbish, and clearing the planters in preparation for their Britain in Bloom 🌱🍃 judging in early August.

Divya and Ben both weeded the area leaving the site clearer and topped up some of the raised beds, while others litter picked and cleared areas nearby. Juno also helped out by keeping watch and raising morale throughout the 2.5 hr session 🐕🐶🐾

Good clearing session and we'll certainly be back.

Today, Ben went along to Brunswick Parish Church to help out with Ardwick Climate Action for their monthly Saturday volunteering.

This week, there were several activities to get involved with:

• Litter picking
• Planting out plants from the Manchester Flower Festival
• Digging over the grass near a "wildflower mound"
• Wheelbarrowing lots of soil from one site to another

Abigail and John took on the challenge of litter picking while Gordon, Ben, and another volunteer moved a whole rubble bag of soil (i.e. lots and lots) from Lockton Close to the Kale Street site. We certainly got our workout in and covered many steps between the sites to give a dragon tail (or sperm...) shaped wildflower area on the Kale St site to be planted with poppy seeds and later other wild flowers once the grass had been fully dug over. We did make a start on the latter around the edge but it was tough work!

Some fox glove (I think) were planted in another bed, and there was a lot of weeding in the lavender beds.

The wheelbarrows each had their own quirks, either with holes, broken bits, and one with very squeaky wheels(!) but they certainly did their job.

Ardwick Climate Action have a couple of allotment sites. One with the university and another with a local Scouts group. Today, we had a "Patch Party" to clear up the allotment in time for the coming growing season.

Doing the work and supervising the scouts was a full time job. Most of us got started with removing weeds from the raised beds before splitting up to more specific task. One person built a very colourful bench, Abigail and Dan we weeding around the trees, many plants were planted including leek and lettuce.

I was charged with building an additional compost bin, with a couple of trusty helpers for the task. Using pallets and stakes to put it in place, there was lots of drilling to hold it together and sawing to remove any extra bits sticking out. The final finish looked great, and a good job as it was needed straight away for the fresh weeds and green waste to add to it. We also divvied out the overflowing branches and leaves from the compost bin next door to give it a chance. After all that, the compost/soil in the bottom of one of the compost bins was perfect to use, so I dug that out for it to be spread on many of the raised beds.

Productive morning and really good workout. Hopefully the scouts and make good use of the space and raised beds, and some of them managed to take a potted raspberry or strawberry plant home to grow.

Stefanie and Ben both joined with Ardwick Climate Action 🌳 for their site clearance and litter pick of the green space (not a park) near Dryden Street.

Along with other volunteers Dan, Gordon, Abigail, Gosia, plus a council member and other members of the community (plus Juno of course), we set about to collect as much discarded waste as possible 🚯

Little did we know how big a task that would be... In amongst the hedges and bushes, a whole host of objects were found, including:

• kettle
• bedding
• condom wrappers
• clothing
• pillows
• vapes
• bottles and cans
• mop
• woven basket
• takeaway containers
• laughing gas canisters

Once the site was looking more sightly, we moved onto St Saviours graveyard. Here we collected yet more bottles and clothing, including coats, socks, and a high visibility jacket, plus lots of empty "packets" and a suitcase 💼

At the end, we must have collected 35-40 full refuse sacks of waste and neatly collected it near a council bin to arrange collection, before moving it en mass to a site mote protected from the wind and possible animal life to raid it.

Was great to get involved and a good 2.5 hr workout on a Saturday.