On the 12th day …

Wallingford Green Gym holding a session actually in Wallingford?   

That is quite unusual, but not unprecedented.  Moreover, of the sessions which have been held in the town after which we are named, a good many have been in St Leonards’ Churchyard Nature Reserve; and, of those, a good proportion on the Tuesday nearest to Twelfth Night.  The scheduling has always been entirely co-incidental.  Nevertheless, it seems a good time of year to be working out in an ecclesiastical setting. 

Today’s session was on the Feast of the Epiphany itself.  On the twelfth day of Christmas – so the song goes – my true love sent to me:
12 Drummers Drumming

11 Pipers Piping

10 Lords a Leaping

9 Ladies Dancing

8 Maids a Milking

7 Swans a Swimming

6 Geese a Laying (now there’s a task we’ve never done – wonder if Green Gyms in coastal areas do)

5 Gold Rings

4 Calling Birds

3 French Hens

2 Turtle Doves (some achievement since turtle doves over-winter in Africa)

1 Partridge in a Pear Tree

Our own treat to ourselves was a tad more conventional.  Festive cake rather than roast partridge with pear sauce:

Before tucking in to the delights of tea-break, there was the small matter of some work to be done.  There was a displaced seasonal task to attend to: namely the tidying we couldn’t do here in the autumn, when it was blowing a gale, and the session had to be cancelled/postponed:

Note the replica public-house sign – new since our previous visit.

For a moment, worried session leader wondered if one volunteer were trying to push another worker on to the interesting iron spikes, which had been omitted from the risk assessment:

On the other hand, sometimes it appeared that workers did not need assistance from colleagues to have a go at falling on spikes.  They didn’t succeed anyway:

In place of autumnal gales, this morning the weather couldn’t make up its mind whether it was winter or spring.  A pity, because on the way over it had looked like it was shaping up to be a fine morning. 

View towards St Leonard’s from Wallingford Bridge

It is difficult in the photograph to make out the weather vane on the top of the tower of
St Leonard’s because it was gleaming golden in the sunshine.

On site, we could hear, but it was a while before we could see where the robin was, which was singing so mightily:

Plant life reflected the relatively mild temperature:

First snowdrops of the season

The first of the blossom

Unfortunately, we had wait another couple of hours before another interval of sunshine.  

In the meantime, a spell of cold rain reminded us that it is still January.

Evidence of the difference made by the morning’s work –

bags now filled with waste, awaiting disposal …

and Georgian-period carvings uncovered by removal of overgrowing ivy:

Best wishes for 2015 to all our friends!