Lycra & Leotard in the churchyard?

By C:

It was a gym-session, and it was in a churchyard.  The gym, however, was Green Gym, so no conventional gym-kit on show.  And the churchyard was the grounds of St Leonard’s Wallingford; which have in the past been managed for wildlife: now perhaps more as ‘just’ a pleasant green space for churchgoers and members of the public alike.

There was/is much that needed doing after a management-hiatus of some months during a vigorous growing season, but this was not a Gotta Catch ’em All situation.  Other groups and other individuals are also on mission here.  The main task for Green Gym was to blitz the west end.

Before:

 After:

The first task – before removing/reducing any other species – was to reel in bindweed, 

by the yard/metre.  Here, for instance, on one of the other little jobs on site:

Before

After

Along the way we came across little that was of great outdoor-life interest.  Below is a picture of the kind of butterfly one might expect to find at that kind of spot.  Actually it was one seen by me up on the chalk downs of the Chilterns the day before (a species common enough in this country, but one I had never seen in that environment):

Red Admiral

As usual at Green Gym, conversation between volunteers flowed free and creatively.  There is always such a thirst for knowledge among Green-Gymmers, as well as sharing ideas on how best to get the task accomplished.  I personally learned from someone who is a sculler, a little more about the background to an unfortunate sporting record set in Rio: fastest capsize in Olympic history.  It is hard to tell from the TV footage exactly what happened, but apparently – if I’ve understood right – it was most likely due to a gate not being closed, or a mistake squaring.  (Gate: the bar which sits across the top of a rowlock, and should be fastened securely with a nut.  Squaring: turning the oar to set the blade at a 90-degree angle to the surface of the water – while not letting it drop too deep.)  In any case, in sculling the centre of mass is high, and the shell is only really stable when the boat is powering forward.  So falling in, terribly easy (though not usually seen at that level of competition!) and leaves the competitor feeling dreadfully embarrassed.

From the Co-ordinator’s PoV it was good to hear that Green-Gymmers appreciated the variety of exercise involved in today’s session – and the better weather organized for this week: “It’s nice not to be going home drenched.”

So that’s the west side of the site done:

Now over to other people to finish off north, south, and east!