I arrived ready to battle the bushes at the boxing gym, but the fight was called off. Wires had gotten crossed as the task owner had left the project, but a mighty GGer never backs down. I took the chance for some fartlek laps around the rec and did a plogging sweep of the nature area of the park to fill the time and do some good. Looking forward to getting the gloves back on to help out once the new staff are ready.

Kingston Road Recreation ground already had its very own 'Bug'ingham Palace' and now it not only boasts six more young apple tree saplings plus a bat house, but also a stag beetle loggery, 'Beetle Castle'??

The mission started with a gentle warm up of digging holes for the extra 6 trees, into the ever growing copse. Remy from Hounslow needed no warm up after her 8 mile jog and was quickly involved in the excavation for the loggery. Roots and stones tried to halt our progress but we dug deep and with the help of the mattock, we soon had a shallow grave-type hole. Next came the logs, stacked up in a wigwam  pyramid-type vertical stack that looked nothing like either of those descriptions, packed in with steaming fermented woodchips and soil from our recently dug hole. The final step was to make it look more natural and for it to blend in a bit better so more wood chip was scattered about and a few leaves too. Looks like home sweet home for a few lucky beetles now!

Thanks to the Friends of Kingston Road Recreation ground for having us. We'll see you in the new year for another project.

The Friends of Kingston Road Recreation ground plus Jane and I, met up this afternoon for another KRRG mission to accomplish. The plan was simple, attack attack attack everything, just like the Japanese rugby team were doing thousands of miles away. They may have been running into solidly-built South Africans, but we had the extra prickly challenge of FORKING brambles, plus a devil-of-a-deeply-routed bush with blood red routes, anchoring it to the ground. There was only one tool for the job, the mattock. After a few well aimed blows it was finally vanquished and levered up by Jane and her now bent fork. It didn't seem to mattock too much because she'd got it done! The rest of the bed was fairly straight forward and we soon had it clear and tidy enough for the membrane to be laid over and then the fruity mulch to be laid on top. The Kingston Road Recreation ground is really looking good and it's credit to the local residents, who give up their time to get out and about to keep on top of it. If you've never been, you're missing out. All they need now is more help to keep on top of it and to make it an oasis of a place for all creatures great and small to enjoy! Next event is on the 17th November. Hope to see more of us there!

It was orchard planting time this afternoon and we were lucky to have the sun come out for us to join the Friends of Kingston Road Recreation Ground, a community group established by local residents to help protect and improve the area. The Woodland Trust have kindly donated a variety of trees and hedge plants to diversify the flora in the park.

When we arrived we were given instructions to help plant the rows of cherry trees and rowans as well as the silver birch trees to be planted in the grove marked out by canes. Doug was the expert at techniques with a shovel and many holes were doug within the hour with his guidance. We were given a pizza advice about the best method to get planting. We were instructed to mark out a circle with the shovel around the canes and then to quarter them and pull out the slices of turf and flip them upside down to go back in place with the grass facing down to add nutrients to the plants. Rafal and Gosia made a great team and got dug in right away while Jo and Kate paired up to tackle some tougher ground and get into a system.

Meanwhile, Samia, Caroline and Karen went off to the other side of the park to cut back some overgrown brambles. This required much pulling, stripping back, snipping and tucking away the clippings to make the path way safer for the community. Karen working the strip and Samia on the pull, Caroline was left to pick up the pieces.

With a brief setback having run out of topsoil and compost, we were not deterred and continued to dig to make sure the holes were ready. Just a short while later the compost arrived and we carried on until all saplings were planted.

After checking all saplings were securely in the ground and protected, we had a quick regroup for a photo before tools were collected and we parted ways to enjoy the rest of the afternoon’s welcome sunshine. We look forward to returning to lend a hand again with the lovely Friends of Kingston Recreation Ground group on the next part of their project.