What a glorious morning we had at Mycenae Gardens yesterday! After joining a post Junior Parkrun coffee with those double deeding heroes amongst us, we had a warm up and quick discussion on what we're looking forward to this winter. Answers ranged from mulled wine to winter being over!

Twelve runners set off on the 3km run, including Roshan who completed his first ever good deed with us - great to have you along Roshan! On arrival, after a briefing from the amazing Fiona we got straight to work.

The task for the day was pruning bushes and low-hanging branches, then dragging the cuttings over to the dead hedge. Everyone pitched in, weaving branches into the hedge to reinforce it and make it sturdy. Seamless teamwork and the hour flew by faster than we expected.

With the hard work done and a few thorny fingers to prove it, we rounded things off with the best reward: coffee and cake. And just when we thought the morning couldn’t get any better, Ceci choreographed some dances to make it an extra memorable session (check Instagram for those!).

I absolutely love our community and how we all bring something different to make it special 😁

Next up: This Wednesday we’ll be painting at Brooklands

On Saturday we've got Talk and Tidy with the friends of hornfair park And maintenance at Westcombe Woodlands.

Until next time! ❤️

Rachel

Once again back at Mycenae Gardens, this time as the only Goodgymer. Today was all about weeding, trying to root out troublemakers. The weeds were really growing on me—in the worst way. Some were easy pickings, while others had deep-rooted attitudes and refused to leaf quietly. I pulled and tugged, giving those pesky plants the boot from the bed. Literally a groundbreaking effort and I left feeling re-leafed.

Please see a medical professional if you’re unable to stop using puns.

It’s the end of the month so it was time for the Group Run to Mycenae House, a lovely local landmark with extensive grounds that the volunteers always need our help with.

Three of us ran the mile or so from Charlton Park to the house to be met by our other members and the amazing Fiona, the volunteer coordinator. For most of the summer we’ve been doing weeding and chopping so it was lovely today to have a more constructive task, namely planting a number of new plants (although the weeding didn’t quite go away). We set to work, digging holes, popping in the plants and watering and between the 5 of us and the volunteers we managed to get 20 odd plants in, including one monster specimen that required three of us to plant it.

All of this was hard work and we were grateful after an hour to be rewarded with some of the excellent cake that is always waiting for us after the task.

Pruning & Positivity at Mycenae Gardens

This morning a bright bunch of GoodGymmers swapped dumbbells for hedge-trimmers and headed to Mycenae Gardens to give the greenery a good tidy-up. We welcomed Loren to her first session and hope it will be the first of many.

The Dream Team 🌿 • Julian: Our resident hedge fund manager (of the leafy kind), expertly snipping back branches with precision. • Marta: Proved she’s a cut above the rest, mastering the art of pruning with flair. • Vic: Got stuck into the shrubs, proving that many hands make light plant work. - Kerry made it in to those hard to reach spots pruning .

What We Did 🌳 • Pruned back wayward growth so the gardens could breathe again. • Collected up trimmings and left things looking tidy enough for a rake-over.

Final Flourish ✨

The team left Mycenae Gardens blooming with beauty and buzzing with good energy.

This morning, seven of us congregated at the coffee shop, most of the group having already good deeded at the junior parkrun (happy 1st birthday Hornfair!)

We enjoyed a leisurely run - much nicer in the slightly cooler weather - to Mycenae Gardens where we met Vic and continued pulling up weeds. Most of them were small but pernicious alkanet and the like but Kerry managed to find a innocuous looking weed, connected to the biggest root I've seen in a while which was making headway on strangling a tree. Satisfying work and makes sense of the title of the report 🥳💪

After a while of weeding, we had a lovely slice of cake and made our way to Pistachio in the park for a nice coffee in the garden. What a treat.

Good luck to Marta on the long run today and Vic on the dog sitting!

On Wednesday we're back at the Memorial Hospital.

Until next time,

Rachel 😁👋🏼

A lovely session at Mycenae Gardens today as we tackled the ever-determined weeds with plenty of energy – and a sweet reward at the end!

We were delighted to welcome Sam to his very first GoodGym session – great to have you on board Sam, and we hope it’s the first of many!

Fuelled by sunshine the team made great progress clearing bed 4 and Arthur did a mighty job finding as many pine cones as he could. A huge thank you to one of the Friends of Mycenae Gardens volunteers for the delicious cake – always appreciated and very much enjoyed!

After our efforts, we treated ourselves to a well-earned coffee at the café, catching up and winding down. A perfect end to a productive morning.

Well done team – as always, you smashed it! 💪

Coming up:

Tomorrow: Join us for a scenic river walk – a great chance to stretch those legs and enjoy the views.

Next Wednesday we’re heading to the Memorial Hospital for our very first task there, note a 6.30pm start to give us longer to get up that hill!

Until next time! 👟🌼

Rachel