Octopus's Garden

😎 12 intrepid GoodGymmers braved the heat for our group run this week. We celebrated our good deed-ers and dragon boat racers from this weekend as well as Louise’s incredible 200 good deeds (and counting!) Deciding it was maybe a tad harsh to force her to wear a pretty heavy cloak in this heat, she posed for photos before we set off. We warmed up, named and numbered all in one go, whilst stating what our first possession to save would be. There were lots of practical phones/laptops etc but also some cats, which is lovely 😻

💦 We set off for West Bank Park where we were met by Kristina and the council van, and some very welcome water. Kristina quickly explained what she wanted from us, namely to rake the arisings from the recent strimming. With that done (very effectively, I might add), we set to work weeding and trimming the edge of the same meadow area 🌼

🐙 Whilst working, we were regaled with stories of intelligent animals by Stef, the octopus appearing to rank higher than the guinea pig (though certainly not in cuteness). We also heard about the exciting plans for the (infamous) pond and new wildlife “bog” (designed to attract frogs and newts whilst deterring cats and vandals), which are progressing nicely 🐸

👀 We made swift progress through all the tasks assigned and it was lovely to see a very visible difference at the end of the task compared to the beginning. For our fitness, whilst we considered a re-run of the bleep test, we also decided that was a tad cruel in this heat. So, Dom’s fitness dice of doom (or fun, depending on your opinion) came back out, this time for some yoga poses. Whilst the dice-rolling made for a slightly clunky lack of “flow” between moves, it was all good fun, and some people (or maybe all of us) particularly enjoyed the resting pose 🧘‍♀️🧘‍♂️

🏃‍♀️🏃 And with that, it was time to head back to base and on to the pub for some. Thank you for a lovely (if warm) evening, looking forwards to seeing you next week when we’ll be helping St Nick’s 💪