Seven GoodGym members met at HEART in Headingley to give the 'stay and play' nursery space (Tiny Boo) a spring clean. Much wet wiping, spraying and vacc-ing resulted in a more sanitary condition and once we sorted and put away the toys, it looked a very inviting space to 'stay and play'. We managed to tear ourselves away and had a very spring-like 4km run around the green spaces of Beckett's Park. We returned to HEART for some stretches and a cool down. Looking forward to having a social drink here again soon. A very good start to May

Two Leeds GoodGymers made their way to Stainbeck Community Hall to continue working on the Sunshine and Smiles garden. We were lucky enough to meet Sunshine and Smiles' co-founder, Ailith Harley-Roberts who has just joined the list of inspirational Leeds women whose names will adorn a new city centre sculpture called The Ribbons. This is to recognise her work supporting families in the city with children who have Down Syndrome. The garden will provide a safe space for families to come and spend time together. Today we were tasked with breaking up an old sandpit cover into small enough pieces ready to take to the tip, and also to clear an overgrown path leading to the rear garden. This entailed digging out weeds and pulling out old pieces of membrane which were no longer working to suppress the weeds. This is when Jubz announced he was ideologically opposed to membrane....he's been spending too much time at Bedford Fields! Once again there was plenty more work to complete than we had time for, so hopefully we'll be back soon.

8 GoodGym members met at the storage unit used by Homeless Hampers. We were greeted by Aky who told us the inspirational story of his and Tina's project to support homeless people in Leeds and Bradford and also help newly homed people to furnish their accommodation. We then pulled out the bags of donations; sorted and boxed up clothing; and filled the storage unit in a more organised fashion. Nothing goes to waste....smart work-type clothes go to community hubs for jobseekers to wear to interviews; unsuitable clothes are sold by weight to another organisation giving funds for the street feeding sessions. A big welcome to Lisa who came for her first session with GoodGym. We hope to see you again soon. Homeless Hampers have loads of individual and corporate volunteering opportunities and their contact details can be found on social media. We will return!

Six Good Gym Leeds members completed our first daylight session this year at Bedford Fields. We were able to see the results of all our previous twilight and torchlit tasks and the true scale of the lovely community gardens. This week we were quickly put to work digging a hole for a future three meter long pond (to soak willow shoots before they can be woven into a structure). The barrowloads of topsoil were then used to fill raised beds ready for planting. We found some interesting objects buried in the ground and spent time speculating on the possible backstories of the articles of clothing....hoping not to feature in future true crime dramas...

9 GoodGym Leeds members completed several tasks at Left Bank tonight. The biggest challenge was to transform 3 beer barrels and some planks of wood into an attractive and functional bench. Much scratching of heads and wielding of power tools and saws eventually resulted in a sort of bench...well we liked it! Other tasks tonight included general weeding, litter picking and filling raised beds with compost. Left Bank staff very generously rewarded us with a round of drinks and we enjoyed seeing the various clubs doing their things inside. A warm welcome to Alina doing her first GoodGym Leeds task.

Today, 3 GoodGymers headed to Sunshine and Smiles to help sort out their garden for summer.

We emptied the sandpit, weeded, cleared webbing & did a general tidy up. There's much more to do so we're hoping to come back in a few weeks to do more. Hopefully we can get the garden in a decent state so that children who use the service can get out there safely this summer.

Sunshine & Smiles is a charity that provides a support network in Leeds for children and young people who have Down syndrome and their families.

Great work guys & thanks to Jubz who stayed for an extra hour to finish off.