Nettle mind the stings!

After yesterday morning's Parkrun and butterfly habitat conservation mission, a group of intrepid Kingston Goodgym runners braved the nettles to return to the scene by the riverside again this morning. While the Parkrun was good, it was also a little bit hazardous due to brambles, nettles and other thorny plants encroaching on the paths. We were warned of this at the start and there were a few scratches along the way. We decided to do something about this! A call out was sent to do some path clearing on the running route for our local Parkrun.

Our call was not only answered by 4 Goodgymers but also a local regular Parkrunner - Piere and the Volunteer Coorinator for the Kingston Parkrun - Jaqueline Chang and her family as they'd heard about it on twitter. It was so lovely to have Jacqueline and her enthusiastic helpers come along to help us too. We're lucky to have such great support to make our local Parkrun events happen each week!

We met the lovely Sufiyo of the Friends of Ham Lands group as she came to support us and guide us and lend us her tools! We are so grateful for this wonderful partnership!

We managed to clear a large mound of brambles, bind weed and nettles from the path in only a short amound of time! Caroline even got a chance to do her first Himalayan Balsam pull! Speaking of which - there is a lot more where that came from so we'll be getting set to organise some more balsam pulling missions in collaboration with the Friends of Ham Lands soon!

It was great to have Hannah joining us on her first mission as a Mrs with a bigger ring on her finger!

Many hands made quick and light work of opening up the path and it is now safer for the runners and other users to enjoy. We were encouraged with words of appreciation from the Thames Path users as we worked to widen the path and reduce the risk of nettle stings! It was a very successful and rewarding Sunday morning's work. Thank you very much to all those that came to help!