This week we had the pleasure of hosting 26 volunteers from all over the country as part of a national BT volunteer day. It was a wonderful winter day and we took them to our site at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where thanks to them and a few of our regular weekly volunteers, we have made some significant progress.
When they arrived and had a tour of the site as well tool and safety talks we reeled off a daunting list of tasks we had for them to do that day. They were coming to do a green gym and we didn’t disappoint!
The first job of the day was leveling out the growing area, which involved the team moving the four raised beds already assembled and peeling off the membrane to add more sand and allow the team to rake it. As the morning progressed the team was split into smaller groups with some building two additional raised beds whilst others lined and painted the already existing ones. Once the site was leveled and the beds were lined and painted, all the beds were then positioned into their place, which maps out the plan of the Metchley Roman Fort the site is located on. With the beds in place it was now time to start filling with top soil, and was also a convenient time to have a quick break for lunch.
As the team was on lunch a truckload of wood chippings for the woodland path nearby turned up as well as a couple of our regular Wednesday volunteers. With renewed energy the team came back to the sight of the wood chippings and extra people power and were surprisingly eager to get back to work.
The afternoon session was very physical but very rewarding. Spreading the wood chipping along the path and filling the raised beds has meant that by the end of the day the site had drastically changed over the course of the day. By the time of the start of the growing season we can’t wait to start planting some veg in the completed beds and its thanks to groups like today that we have been able to move so quickly on this site.
