We spent a very jolly morning cheering the Oxford half runners and handing out energy gels.

Take aways from the event:

• Red packet energy gels SHOULD be strawberry and NOT apple.
• Glitter makes any running outfit 110% more excellent.
• All runners are epic and inspiring.
• Adding crisps to a sandwich is mandatory behaviour.

Favorite sights: Father Christmas and his reindeer, Mario&Luigi, a 2 person slinky dog and Alice and Ian!

Huge thanks to the whole team but mostly to Muireann for keeping us caffeinated!

6 of us headed over to Kate's Place in Florence Park for an autumnal tidy-up. There was leaf raking, grass pulling, hedge trimming and willow herb removing. It didn't rain after all and we left a job well done.

Wildlife spotting - one tiny frog.

We ticked another letter off our parkrun alphabet!

Henry completed his first parkrun this year and Bethan NEARLY went sub 30.

An excellent way to start a Saturday!

This evening we were back at the Meadow Lane playground. It has been so fun and rewarding to be involved in this project! From removing acres of ivy and brambles and unpicking dangerous metal fencing to digging new flower beds and building dens, no task has been left untried by our gaggle of Goodgymers.

Today we made some more progress on the flower bed designs - removing a few pesky roots and then shoveling and spreading loads and LOADS of ballast. A true shoulder and core workout!

We will be back next week for more digging and spreading so that some hardy plants can take root before the winter.

When you absolutely must have the front end of your village hall looking pretty for your Afternoon Tea event, that's when you call in Goodgym. As everybody knows, Goodgym will do anything if free cake is involved, and that's why Vicky, Joe, Muireann and myself were there this morning to weed the overgrown areas around the building, and refresh the big flowerpots along the drive.

We all did a lovely job with the flowerpots - each one now has fresh compost, a young shrub in the middle - 1 rosemary, 1 sage and 1 lavender - each one surrounded by pansies. We also had to transfer some of the old geraniums from one of the big pots into smaller pots to be move to a new home. We think they survived the process... we think.

Next we pulled out all the weeds that had taken over the grow boxes and were spreading into the car park. Because Nature likes to mess with our minds, the great big weeds came out very easily and the little tiny ones were very hard work to pick out of the gravel one by one.

But we were well compensated for our efforts with delicious cake! After the task the Hall volunteers Claire and June provided us with tea, coffee, and yummy flapjack, brownies and ginger cake. And Goodgym are always ready for cake.

The evenings are drawing in and this was probably our last natural light Wednesday session of the year. We were back at The Children's Allotment to do battle with the longest, fiercest, thorniest brambles I've ever seen. Before the onslaught, we warmed up by moving a few years' worth of accumulated rubbish into a skip; this part of the task was accomplished quickly.

The brambles, not so much. Long, thick, scratchy, entangled in the trees and other "good" vegetation. Our best efforts made some headway but they will no doubt regroup ready for our next battle in the Spring.

After a group snap in the yurt we celebrated the end of a great summer of GoodGymming with a drink in The Magdalen Arms.