15 years Green Gym
We celebrated the 15th birthday of the Sonning Common Green Gym, and therefore the birthday of the Green Gym movement, with a special work session at Withymead Nature Reserve on 20th April. Representatives from Abingdon, Bicester and Wallingford Green Gyms joined us, making 3 dozen volunteers tackling the tasks lined up for us by Withymead resident wardens Keith Tomey and Dot Reich: renewing a boundary fence; replacing old gravel on several footpaths with new gravel; digging leaf mould out of the historic slipway and barrowing to storage near the car park; burning cut material; and painting the wooden visitor centre with preservative.
Dr William Bird
Dr. William Bird, who had the original idea of Green Gyms to promote health and fitness through practical conservation volunteering, worked alongside us all morning, and was delighted to see his ‘baby’ thriving in its Oxfordshire birthplace.
He cut our celebratory cake at coffee time, and gave a short speech on how the Government now recognises the importance of exercise to our health and requires GPs to encourage their patients to take regular exercise – perhaps at Green Gyms.
We had a great time meeting old and new friends among our fellow Green Gyms and got a large amount of work done! Special kudos to Robert Watson, who did a huge amount of advance preparation for the big day. He had already concreted in many fence posts in two different areas, and somehow rustled up about 16 wheelbarrows, not to mention 7 tons of gravel.
Julia, 22/4/2013