On Friday 19 and Saturday 20 August 2022, a total of 12 members of the Muscles team descended on the Ipswich home of Gina to complete a garden make-over in return for a donation she had generously made to the East Anglian Air Ambulance Charity.
On the morning of first day, Alan, Clive, Ian, Pete and Phil arrived nice and early in an attempt to beat the heat and, armed with pick axes, spades and mattocks set about preparing the ground for the main work the following day. The task was completed in a total of 12 hours labour and everything looked good for day two.
However, things didn’t begin too well when our usually very trusty cement mixer, ‘Lady Sarah’, wouldn’t start. Mixing two tonnes of cement by hand wasn’t an option the team were looking forward to, so the problem needed to be rectified quickly.
Fortunately, half an hour of great detective work by ex-detective Bernie traced the fault back to a small split in an electric cable. A chocolate box and insulation tape fix later we were ready to start the day. Lesson learnt, check vital kit the day before the job!
The team split into two groups, one working on the main task of building a patio base, and the other assembling the frame of a new octagonal greenhouse, the latter job being far from simple.
A particularly pleasing aspect of the day was the contribution made to the team by three generations of the Grew family; grandad Simon, dad Craig, son Kieron and nephew Finn made up 40% of the second day’s team, which was completed by Alan, Bernie, Clive, Kev, Nick and Phil.
Muscles project number – 444
Total voluntary hours – 17220
Muscles for Charity 