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Friends of Bicester North Station (a.k.a. Bicester Green Gym, for now) took a day off from gardening and courtesy of Chiltern Railways, enjoyed train travel to our comrades in Solihull, Dorridge and Leaminton Spa, hoping to gain insight and ideas in the running of a Friends Group. We were joined by Paul Webster of ACORP who help link up groups, give training, advice and funding. The pictures say it all. We were well impressed by what we saw, the hospitality and the fun.

First stop, Friends of Solihull Station. Lovely planted beds and unusual tiles in the underpass.

Next we continued back down the line a short 5 minute journey to Dorridge.

 

 

 

 

 

Here we were impressed with the planting, a great watering trolley (which we will need at Bicester as no tap nearby) and a beautifully restored waiting area.

 

 

 

 

Finally, Leamington Spa, one of the longest established Friends groups (and average age of volunteers to match) was an exemplary display of award winning planting, imagination, restoration. Not enough space to put on all the pictures to do it justice, but suffice to say it is well worth another visit.

2018 has got off to an exciting start:

On 6th February we celebrated a new birth – Friends of Bicester North – as 15 people from Bicester Green Gym, 2 from Wyevale Garden Centre and 3 from Burley, converged on the London-bound platform to start transforming the 90-metre long flower bed which had lain forgotten since its construction 2011. Admittedly many of the plants had continued to survive but were failing to thrive. The whole area was in need of some TLC so we started weeding! It will need further visits before the renewal begins. Wyevale will kindly donate their time and skills to landscape and re-plant the area. Bicester Green Gym will add extra labour and we hope that new people will want to come along and join us. The idea is that a new group will form, which will work to their own timetable, to keep the station looking good all year round. They will have their own tools and shed, water butt and composting bays provided by Wyevale, by permission of Chiltern Railways. We are hoping local arts or gardening groups may want to add decorative touches, perhaps in the form of sculpture, functional planters or bird feeders. We are inviting schools to design a logo for the new group which will be displayed on hi-vis jackets and new noticeboard. Chiltern Railways will offer the winning child’s family tickets for a day out on the train. The next weeding work party will be on Tuesday 6th March if anyone wants to be involved at this early stage.

A couple of days later we were celebrating the 20^th birthday of Sonning Common Green Gym, the first one to be established by Dr. William Bird and colleagues. The group marked this by inviting all the Oxfordshire Green Gyms, Reading GG and Newbury and Thatcham GG to join them in a great scrub bash on Watlington Hill on the morning of Thursday 8th February. This is a National Trust nature reserve with fantastic views over the Oxfordshire plain, and we were provided with plenty of work by Reserve warden Jerry Page, who was marking his own celebration in retiring from the job. There were bonfires with jacket potatoes baking in the ashes for lunch at the end of the session. Dr. William Bird, who started up the Green Gym idea, was at the session as well as the current leader of The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) who manage the setting up of new Green Gym groups. In fact the title “Green Gym” is now protected and shouldn’t be used for the outdoor exercise equipment often found in parks. All gave inspirational words of encouragement. Dr. Bird quoted “I used to have axes and loppers in my surgery alongside my medical equipment – all very disconcerting for any patients coming in for minor surgery”! At the end of the day we cut and burned a huge amount of scrub (for which the wild flowers will be grateful in the course of time), new friendships formed and no tools were lost! As usual with Green Gym the tea break and lunch were high points (literally), overlooking the views with the red kite birds flying overhead. In all, there were 49 people and 6 Green Gyms on the site. As someone said on the day, “Why lift weights you don’t need to lift at a conventional gym, when you can do something constructive and tangible using hand tools on a meaningful project with Green Gym?”

19/05/15: We revisited Jarvis Lane and the fields off it, and picked at least another 15 jumbo rubbish sacks! Interesting finds included an angle grinder (!!), a bicycle frame, a car number plate and a pair of safety boots. The area is now 90% litter-free…..let’s hope it stays that way!

10/02/15: A great litter pick today, in which we cleared at least 6 JUMBO sacks of rubbish plus large bits on the side, all of which were taken away while we packed up. Well timed by Cherwell. This is on top of nearly 50 normal-sized bags picked earlier in the other half of the lane.
Amongst the finds were the remains of an ATM, a car seat, a computer printer, a stolen powered screwdriver (which is drying out as I write, don’t know if it will work) and the contents of a decaying purse, cards dated 1987. I’m sure the person would have cancelled these by now.
The sweetest story came from an iPhone found by Matt & Phil, and a pink cover found separately. Apparently both belonged to the same lady, who had treasured photos on it, and was almost in tears when I returned it. She gave me a lovely bouquet of flowers which I’d love to share, but don’t know how!
Also interestingly, there were 4 arrows found, and on researching the internet, these have hunting tips, so whether someone was living rough and trying to shoot squirrels, who knows, but I think they missed and the arrows lost, until today!
Read the newspaper report

17/11/14 – Hooray – the wall has been finished ! The churchyard is looking so much larger without all the ivy. They are also doing other work there with additional car parking and a revamped hall at the back. Well worth a visit in the spring! See more pictures in Our Gallery (via Quick Links)