Saturday 20th September
Report written by Sevan
After an unexpected delay caused by a broken wrist, GoodGym Ealing were back at Our Lady of the Visitation school in Greenford today to complete a task they started back in May. Two tonne bags full of wood chip were waiting for Mairaj, Kash and Sevan to create a path in a nature reserve requested and designed by the school's children.
The nature reserve was part of a larger transformation at the school, which has reduced their CO2 emissions by 20%, created a vegetable patch complete with baby pumpkins and repopulated a pond with plants, frogs and newts. They'd even made courgette cake for the 480 pupils from some giant marrows they'd grown. This was certainly a worthy cause to be helping during Ealing Climate Week. The nature reserve was looking a little unloved though as trip hazards - like resurgent brambles - meant that it wasn't safe for children to enter. With task owner Rachel, GoodGym would help solve that!
The 2 tonne bags seemed like a huge task for 3 people, especially as they were placed 100m away from the nature reserve site. The wood chip had compressed too after sitting and waiting 3 months for the task to happen. The team worked to loosen up the bag contents as they scooped it into wheelbarrows and they were really efficient at creating the path which Rachel lined with anti-weed matting.
After 40 minutes, Mairaj thought that one of the tonne bags could be lifted and he was right. It was heaved onto the sturdiest wheelbarrow and carefully rolled down to the path and emptied. At that point, everyone realised that with only a quarter of the path covered, they'd need more wood chip to complete job. Well, they could only work with what they had, so a few more wheelbarrows were filled, then the second bag could also be lifted and it was spread in the nature reserve with 10 minutes to spare on the task.
The half of the path was completed, not incomplete, looked great. Another task will be coming soon, as soon as some more tonne bags appear.
Sustainability Managers for Schools is a community interest company (CIC) who work with schools to identify and implement projects which will increase biodiversity, sustainability and contribute to broader plans to achieve net zero. They support schools through Sustainability Managers who put projects into practice and then monitor their impact through carbon footprinting and survey data. In 2024/25, SMS is working with three schools in the London Borough of Ealing. - Derwentwater Primary School in Acton; - Our Lady of the Visitation Primary School in Greenford; - Villiers High School in Southall
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This will inspire the local community to engage with our green spaces, nature and wildlife.