Rob, Stephanie and Julie were working with Woking Environment Action (WEAct) at St John's Lye. At the edge of the wood near the playing field there is a pond which had become overgrown with willow and it was barely getting any light. Due to the dry weather there was no water so we were able to walk on the soft mud, avoiding some tiny froglets, and remove large branches of willow that had grown across the pond. Stephanie and Rob did a great job of cutting the smaller branches, sawing some larger ones and getting all the brash to the habit piles being created in the undergrowth nearby. Within 1 1/2 hours the pond space was clear and looking great. Now all it needs is a good downpour to fill the pond and it will be a great feature for visitors to the area, both human and other species.

Looking forward to our next task on Wednesday, we will be plogging!

After the success of our mission on Sunday with WEAct, Julie organised another GoodGym task along the Hoe Valley. Alys (and her little dog Quinn), Julie, Kirsty, Anne and Wayne, sorry, Adam ran to meet Richard in Mayford.

Richard is well known to GoodGym Woking as we often go and help him set up the railway tracks for the monthly “All Aboard Club” sessions which he runs for SEN children. This time it was Richard’s first GG mission without his “All Aboard” cap. We were all delighted when he let us use all the gardening tools he had brought with him!

Julie and Anne realised that the WEAct team had cleared all the Himalayan balsam in the areas we had planned to work on. But after a few metres of running, we found more to deal with.

Firstly, Julie asked for volunteers to cut back one of the bushes which encroached the path, allowing better access for walkers and runners. Richard and Wayne, oops, Adam did so diligently.

Armed with a long handle tool, Kirsty opened the path. Kirsty had warned everyone to cover their arms and legs to avoid being stung by nettles. Guess who forgot that covering your ankles was just as important? (no other comments). Poor Wayne, sorry again, Adam might not have read Kirsty’s messages. But this did not stop him tackling the nettles with enthusiasm. I wonder how his limbs are feeling this morning.

We pulled out a large patch of the invasive Himalayan balsam while discovering more as we worked up the path. We will return before the plants produce their seeds to try and limit their invasion. Julie will keep the WEAct team of our task.

The group ran back to our meeting point, fighting mosquitoes and calling Alys’s dog “This way”, which he is responding well to, every time he was taking another route.

Adam, we know your name really and apologise for calling you Wayne all evening!

Will you be joining us this coming Sunday to help Woking junior parkrun?

Happy running to you all.

Julie and Anne ran to Mayford Meadows to help a group of people from WEAct to pull balsam from the path along the Hoe.

The Hymalian Balsam have really pretty flowers and grow next to water. Unfortunately, they are very invasive as their seeds can be projected up to ten meters from their stem. Already, people living along the Hoe Valley have noticed how much they have expanded and know something must be done about it. Hence the involvement of WEAct with whom we have already done different missions.

Julie and Anne worked together and managed to clear quite a large area making two enormous piles of the balsam. We had to stomp on them and leaving them in a pile will help with them not making roots for next year.

Anne, who had forgotten to pack her gloves, was saved by Julie who always has some spare in her magic bag. Another issue was the stinging nettles, thank goodness we did not run in shorts, but our arms are still tingling! The bindweeds (le liseron in French!) did not help either as they gathered the nettles to the balsam…

But hey-“Hoe” after one and a half hour, we had cleared up a large area and were rather pleased with the result! So much so, that we will invite the whole team to pull some more balsam before the flowers produce their seeds! Hopefully most of you will be able to join us for a pleasant run and a rewarding task!

In the meantime, happy running to all of you!

The GoodGym team gathered at St John’s Lye to tackle the invasive laurel plants taking over the area.

Andy and Nadia ran to the location covering about 2.5km. 🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏼

Wayne and Anne arrived fresh from supporting the junior parkrun, ready to lend a hand. 🪏🪚

Working together, the team cleared a large section of laurel near the stream, helping to improve biodiversity and open up the woodland. 🪾🪵

The event was a great example of teamwork, with everyone contributing their energy and enthusiasm. Their efforts made a real difference to the local green space and supported the Woking Biodiversity team, part of WEAct Woking.

*White Rose Lane Nature Reserve *

This morning i joined Charlie from We Act 🌍 and a few of his volunteers at white rose lane nature reserve to pull up Himalayan Balsam which had overgrown in the reserve.

In Total there were 6 of us all gloved up and we were surprised at how quickly it had grown from our previous visit to the reserve, the recent downpours definitely had an impact The Balsam was quite easy to pull up and in no time we had cleared an area and had cleared a pathway 😊

This Wednesday we are meeting at the St John's Lye where we will be running to the Vyne. Nadia will be leading the group run as part of her Run Leader Training run 🏃‍♀️

Have a great weekend all. 😊

*Millmoor Common *

This mornings outdoor task was part of GG's x WWF Work Out In Nature calibration. 🌎

Big welcome to Jemma who joined us for her first GG task, hopefully the first of many 😀

Wayne & Luan met up with Jemma & Charlie and his volunteers from We Act 🌎 at a new location Millmoor Common in Old Woking.

Todays task was to find an area which could be turned over to so wild flowers could be seeded and hopefully grow 😀

Charlie as always brought all the tools that were required to carry out the task. The area was marked out and then we all git stuck in pulling out the weeds and turning over the soil. Millmoor Common is prone to flooding and the common itself is quite large and the spot we found would be one of many.

Luan who loves an outdoor task was telling us how she has been getting out and running regularly even doing a 6k run last week, keep up the good work.

After an hours work of clearing the area we all scattered the wildflower seeds that Charlie had brought, we then moved over to the other side of the common to find another suitable area. Before we started to dig up a well deserved coffee and biscuits were given out. Once fueled up we got stuck in and in no time had the 2nd site ready for the seeds to be scattered 😀

What a great morning doing this great task 🌎