Pullin' bindweed to get a good deed!

Excited to help out an organisation for the first time, X GoodGym volunteers ran to Sydney Gardens to help move a pile of leaf mould to a new flower bed. While we were at it we removed loads of bindweed from the compost to stop it spreading. It was a really fun outdoors task and it was a great way to spend a Tuesday evening!

Well done, Max!

We met at out usual spot outside the leisure centre and I shared the news with everyone. At the weekend Max earnt his 50th good deed from running with GoodGym. Well done! This is a fantastic achievement and I hope you can inspire others to work towards the goal too.

We have some Community Missions at the weekends coming up over the next month, so please look out in the the run listings online (and the bottom of the report) to find out how to get involved.

Onto the task!

Our task last night was at Sydney Gardens. We have recently formed a relationship with the team there and this was the first time we went along to volunteer with them. We were all really excited to help a new community project (as if we needed any more encouragement to 'do good'!)

Sydney Gardens isn't far away from the leisure centre so we only had a short run this week. We ran along the river and along Great Pulteney Street. We arrived with plenty of time so that we had more time to crack on with our task!

Thankfully noone got lost in the pile of compost!

When we arrived our host took us to part of the park just behind the Holburne Museum and introduced the tasks for the evening. There was a 2m high pile of leaf mould that has been gathered over the last few years when the volunteers and staff that take care of the park have been raking and sweeping leaves and debris. Over time, this has mulched down into really good quality compost. Our task was to load the compost into wheelbarrows and shift it around to a new flower bed that is due to be completed in the near future. This was an amazing way to do two great tasks at the same time; clearing the area and preparing a flower bed. Good work, GoodGym!

Weed never been happier!

While some of us were loading and moving the wheelbarrows, other members of the team embraced the challenging task of pulling out as much bindweed as we could and moving it to one side. Bindweed is very aggressive and grows very fast. It only decomposes at high temperatures so it has to be removed from the compost to stop it spreading all over the garden.

This task was easier to begin with, as the runners could just pull big long strands from the top of the compost heap. We reckon that some of the lengths were about 3m! However, as we got down below the 'surface level' the task got harder and we had to pull the bindweed out from the compost where it has taken root.

We had a wheelie good time!

We were really happy to shift around 20 wheelbarrow loads of compost across the park and remove a huge amount of bindweed from the remaining pile.

This was a classic GoodGym task where we come along in our numbers (and with our endless enthusiasm and good work ethic) and make a big difference to a project. So thanks very much for coming along and helping out last night.

Thanks!

Thanks to Rachel for backmarking for us and for the pun this week and thanks to the team at Sydney Gardens for giving up their evening to host us. We shall return!

Upcoming runs

• On Sunday there is a bulb planting session being held in Widcombe just by Widcombe Parade
• Next week we are running up to St Phillips and St James' Church to help them prepare for their Christmas celebrations
• On Sunday 12th October we have been asked to help Dry Arch Growers.