Another hot hot evening for the goodgymers of Cardiff. We welcomed our first timer to the mix....

CROESO

Welcome Abdullah, we are very pleased to have you on a task with us tonight.

It was a mixed group of joggers, walkers and cyclists for the journey, but all on the same route direct through the beautiful park and up to the cricket ground changing rooms. The only tap, and in direct sunshine....

So to our task for the evening, to fill the four bowsers (40 litres in each), run them 300m to the Orchard, empty the water into watering cans (some heavy lifting required), rinse and repeat.........

We were also joined by some of the orchard volunteers, some helped us with the watering whilst others went off for some wild seed collecting - some yellow rattle had been spotted so they were on the job to collect as much as possible for use at the orchard this winter to help us keep some of the grass under control so that our wildflower meadows could be expanded.

First job was at the tap where we all gathered, we filled the four bowsers and 6 watering cans and made our way to the Orchard. There were a few water works, some unfortunate drips and a moistened short crotch (sorry Jonathan).....thankfully it's hot enough to dry off fast!

Before we even got started there was time to stop and watch a cluster of dragonflies that were feeding at the orchard, just ask Michael he has a lot of videos of them....

Time to get tasking

Abdullah, Jonathan, Rosie, Darcey & Dylan were all on can duty, and what beautiful cans they were.

Aaron, Michael & Nathan were on bowser patrol, along with one of the orchard volunteers and even the lovely Mel that leads the orchard. In total it was 7 trips to the tap for each bowser = 2.1 km each. Add on the 40 kg of water for each of the 4 trips full, and thats an impressive 160 kg of weight per bowser....

What a workout!

In total we went through 610 litres of water, helping to keep our trees going, which in turn is having an amazing effect on the wildlife in the area. We have seen a noticeable increase in butterflies, mouths, and bees. We have had green woodpeckers nesting, seen many a dragonfly and the occasional Jay.

It's such a pleasure to see the Community Orchard get stronger and bigger every year.

It was a split group tonight, half meeting at the task and half jogging in the heat.

Even with a few late night's of rain, it still hadn't been enough to penetrate the earth and keep things green. So, goodgym gets to the cans again.

Tonight, we were heading to Global Gardens to volunteer our time and help to keep the space alive. Michael led the crew around the site showing them the different areas, a lot of which goodgym have been very involved with. The orchard, the forest school, the newly cleared children growing space and the general growing spaces for the volunteers and community.

There was certainly plenty to water, and a chance for lots of extra steps back and forth to the trough. We got out our watering cans, bowls, anything really that could hold water. Unfortunately the trough that we used wasn't filling all too quickly and it wasn't too long before we had managed to empty it.

A quick run around and we found a much better second trough, one that actually filled back up quicker. So our task resumed...

We managed to water parts of the orchard, the children's growing area, the pumpkin trellis, the general beds and even the tomato polytunnel.... We may have tried a pea or two... And the odd apple....

Thanks to a great crew tonight, we have helped again to keep those spaces of beauty in Cardiff to keep growing and thriving.

Join us next week, as we head to Cwtch Together.. See you there folks!

Our second successful task at the local community orchard in Cardiff.

Welcome to our first timers, Jenny and Mhairi.

CROESO

And back for more, on their second return task Darcey (and the orchard again.... do you have a favourite task already?).

Our groups tonight had walkers Michael, Jenny, Rosie, Dylan and Dylan.

Runners Mhairi, David, Darren, Darcey, Aaron and Emily.

And on the cycle..... Lew.

With very little rain in the recent months we needed to help out the trees in the orchard. With some only recently planted (this year), they are much more vulnerable to droughts.

Unfortunately other community spaces in Cathays and Bute Park have had 30-40% of their newly planted trees die this year due to drought conditions.

GoodGym are not going to let this happen to the orchard!

A great team effort watering a lot of trees. We had our extra workout rolling the bowsers to the tsp and back, then team spout got to the watering cans. We managed all the trees tonight, and then had a wildflower spotting session with the wonderful Bodge.

On yet another hot and sweaty night, 8 Goodgymers ran, cycled and walked to Cwtch together to help out. There was plenty of tasks to get on with, inside and out, so we got cracking straight away.

Welcome Matthew to the Goodgym crew. Thanks for attending your first GG task, hopefully we will see you again soon.

Inside the hall, Matthew and Dylan S were clearing out and cleaning the kitchen whilst Rosie and Dylan V were mopping the main hall area. Initially Rosie and Dylan did kick off with their patented 'dry mopping technique'! So eager to start and do good they were working away without any water or cleaning product! ;o)

Emily, Darren and Jen set about the front garden, clearing any nettles and weeds from the play area and the perimeter, as well as mowing the lawn. Michael attacked the overgrown back area with a strimmer, check out the before and after to see the difference! Impressive stuff.

At the end of the task we were rewarded with some ice cold cans of water! They may look like beer or an energy drink but we can assure you it was water! We had a play with the hula hoop before some photos and bidding farewell for another week.

We got back to the pub where Leon had kindly reserved us a table to watch the Spain v France WC semi final.

On a glorious day in the sunshine, goodgymers got together for the long overdue task of Orchard watering..

The community orchard in Bute park was in need of a good slosh o' water. After heatwave after heatwave, those trees were rattling the fences for us to come in.

Due to all of the events in the parks recently.... The orchard had to be fenced off for its own safety. This had meant a cancelled water session last time, but no more. Finally as the people of Cardiff get their parks back, goodgym can get to the orchard.

We met at Glassworks as usual, and welcomed our first timer Darcey..

CROESO

We set off on our run, a light jog due to the heat.. A slight detour due to the get out for the events crew as they disassembled the monstrosity of the stage and walls, but we made it to the orchard gates. Our organiser, Mel messaged to say she was running a little late so we got comfortable in the shade relaxing after our run.

David decided to try to break the code for the gate lock, but with no success.

As Mel arrived, on her bike with 2 water browsers and a watering can (Michael had run with 2 from his allotment), it was time to get into the orchard to get volunteering.

There are over 60 trees in the orchard, so our task was a big one tonight, the plan of action was simple....

• fill up the 2 browsers (60 litres each)
• decant water to the cans
• give each tree 1 FULL can of water

We rotated, giving everyone time for a different workout. Running back and forth to fill up the browsers, they were quite a workout on their own once full, but fun to roll. Lifting and pouring the water into the watering cans, a great upper body workout. And last, but by no means least, running to water the trees.

We were even lucky enough to see a green spotted woodpecker, but not in time for Jonathan to get it on the merlin app.... Maybe next time...

Speaking of which, we will return in 2 weeks for another watering session as we head into a big ol heatwave....

Join us won't you.....

Sign up here

Sunday at Love Trails Festival 2026 saw Goodgym lead a run to beach clean at Broughton Bay. ​ 3 goodgym run leaders led 16 runners (who had never done a Goodgym task before) on a 7.5km trail run along the coastal path, avoiding the tick infested forest and diverting onto a hillier road route, and across some sand dunes to the beach. ​ On arrival one runner commented "but this beach is clean? what are we going to collect?"

How wrong they were! the beach on the Gower Peninsula looked clean, but once people started looking we collected 15 bags of rubbish, another broken crab cage, a toy spade (which will be recycled as a gift to one runleaders children) and a heavy duty crate.

After 30 minutes of collecting, we regrouped, and ran 7.5km to the festival site.