This evening's task was was a first for us - Himalayan Balsam bashing at Ockwells!

Himalayan Balsam is an invasive species, which threatens native biodiversity if allowed to spread, so task owner Ranger Tom asked for our help to stop it from going to seed and smothering the native flora mix at beautiful Ockwells.

Tom told me we would be going to what3words location ///police.hurt.dozen, which sounded a bit ominous. Add to that the planned 'bashing', and promised attacks from stinging insects and pollen and I worried we were in for a violent and painful evening.

The reality couldn't have been more of a contrast. We had a lovely peaceful walk through the park; ///police.hurt.dozen turned out to be a pretty, sun-kissed spot, not far from a stream and surrounded by trees and birdsong; most of the insects we met were gorgeous blue dragonflies, and we didn't even need to bash anything: the roots of the offending plants were very happy to come up with no more than a gentle tug.

We quickly amassed huge piles of pulled up plants, creating our very own Himalayan (Balsam) mountain range!

Bar the odd nettle sting (especially the one on Anne-Laure's face, which led her to declare that she was growing a face on her face!), it was the perfect evening to refresh and soothe body and mind.

Can't wait for more of the same at Battlemead Common at next Wednesday's Group Run/Walk!

Tonight's task was a takeover by me, Jenni! 👋 I've been doing my GoodGym fitness leader training, and Amy kindly let me lead tonight's task for my assessment - thank you!

A group of us met at the Community Centre, and I delivered the briefing - where we were going, how we'd get there and most importantly to make sure we were doing it safely!

The walking duo of Diya and Kanika set off, while the runners did a self-led warm up, including Adam's choice of squats and Samrita feeding the chickens! Once our muscles were ready, we set off up the hill and off to the task...

...where the rest of the team met us!

After a chat with our taskowner for the night, Carl, it was clear it wouldnt take us very long, so Amy sprang into action to find us some more bits to do!

The answer to how many GoodGymers it takes to fill a raised bed?

Not very many at all!!

With an efficient team filling wheelbarrows with soil on one side of the building, others navigating round to the beds and a team of levellers, we were done filling the bed in record time! While team soil were working away, teams bike shed and weeders got to work.

Diya and Sophie were having loads of fun scaring everyone cleaning up inside the bike shed with their water throwing and Roberta and Gillian made easy work of the weeds around the building!

With our task, and some bonus bits complete, Amy and Sophie devised a fitness session, making use of the school's play equipment. With standing push ups, tricep dips, balancing and running across the playground, everyone had a good workout!

All that was left to do was to say goodbye to Carl, check who was coming back to base to do our stretches, so we set off into the sunset!

Thanks everyone for a fab evening for me to do my fitness leader assessment! Great road crossings and no spade mishaps 😂 I hope to lead a session for you again soon... and everyone will be welcome when Reading GoodGym is up and running!