Tuesday
Well today started off excitingly with a reverse park of the minibus, at Hermitage of Braid, that nearly resulted in the death of an upside down picnic table, however, thanks to Alan it was saved. After this ordeal we were given 20 boxes of wildflowers by Jessica the ranger to plant in the wildflower meadow. After reaching the meadow we started work, it soon became apparent that we had miss counted the spades required so I trotted back to the minibus to fetch another for myself. When I returned though the group had left me with one box to plant! Go team Tuesday for speed. After the flowers were in the ground we were asked to plant yellow rattle seeds. This entailed Rob, Alan, Lynn and Kate digging holes then shouting on Derek (who was placed in charge of seed dispersal) to run around and spread the seeds. Think Derek may have got his monthly exercise in 30 minutes!
It was time for lunch (with criticism for the lack of variety of biscuits in the biscuit box, we will try for variety next week!). After lunch we began the mammoth task of tackling the paths at the Hermitage, which we successfully scraped. Then as the sun was shining we made our way back to the minibus and just as we were driving back the heavens opened, what’s that for timing!!!
Wednesday
Back to Redhall Walled Garden today to finish off the path work we had started last week. We split into two teams one finding new pieces of wood to replace any edging that had rotted and one shovelling and barrowing woodchip on to the path. In between the occasional sunny spell there was much sawing, shovelling, hammering and very enthusiastic bill hooking from Alan. 
After finishing the path throught the woods, Rachel took us on a natural walk along the Water of Leith, looking at the wild flowers and the small shelters built for Victorian ladies to rest in whilst walking along the river.
Thursday
Today was spent at North Bughtlin Burn helping with a community clean up. The tasks involved clearing vegetation, which blocked the view of the burn and a huge litter pick. The group was packed full of ex-VO’s today and we should welcome back Charlie and Rob who graced us with their presence this week. Anyway back to the task in hand. We rallied our troops and started the battle against the over grown vegetation, which we piled into huge piles for the council to compost at a later date. 
When we were making headway with the vegetation some of us began to collect the vast amount of litter that was engulfing the area and with this the community came out to help, from toddlers to pensioners there was great community spirit to the day. 
The local community were very impressed with the work that our group did today and wanted to pass on their thank yous. They were amazed by the volume of work that was completed so you should all be pleased with yourself and give yourself a pack on the back! All in all a very good day out and a lot of progress made.
To see the photos of the week please click