The Root of all Good

It was the second week of the Guvnor's holiday and while Michal was away celebrating his wedding anniversary "Gratulacje Michal!", 21 GoodGym folk ran to Park Grove School for some jungle manoeuvres, hacking back the overgrown greenery in the forest school to make a lovely place for the children to return to next term.

We set off with Ellie almost escaping without wearing the Cape of Good Deeds to commemorate her recent 200th good deed and we soon met GG Vicky and caretaker / site manager / 'bloke that does all the stuff' Gary and selected our weapons (sorry not weapons I meant tools).

Ben & George were Team Fence Post and set to help Gary digging post holes right next to the existing posts - they soon hit concrete despite having a twisty spiral post hole tool to help them but persisted digging out two good holes - there was a discussion about how deep the holes need to be in order to be long lasting but Gary seemed happy that despite being a bit shallow they would only need to last until his retirement!

Dom, Abi & Cara were Team Wildlife Pond and began clearing out the weeds around the pond whilst looking out for wildlife. Dom discovered a wood louse who was managing to walk on water like an insect messiah. No sooner had he pointed this out than the spell was broken and the louse began to sink. Dom being a very Good GoodGymer managed to save the insect on his fork while Abi contented herself with putting sticky cleavers on Dom's back while he wasn't looking.

Everyone else was digging and weeding and armfuls of greenery was making its way to the compost heap. Mitchell was mainly to be found dangling from a Willow branch while he hacked through it with a saw and Carl was freeing up a bed with his New Technique

I call it Dig and Roll. Ellie you may have to move soon or I might Dig and Roll you too!

Ellie seemed to think that Ben might have something to say about that.

Not only did Ed volunteer to lead the fast group to the task but he also managed to dig up the longest root we have ever seen and only COVID restrictions stopped us using it for a Tug of War.

The greenery piled up and the compost heap grew while Laura & Vicky seemed mainly to be using their leggings to cultivate large collections of burrs.

It was pretty soon time to pack up.

We better tidy up these things post-haste!

Fence Post Ben insisted that this comment was said with irony but I wasn't convinced.

All that remained was a quick Burpee Challenge to Thunderstruck which was met with a variety of enthusiasm before we headed back to base and for a post run meet up at the Ackhorne.

Is it pronounced to rhyme with 'ache' or 'ack'?

Nobody knows.

Note:Barbara when asked for the highlights of the task for use in the run report wanted it put on record that with help from Louise, Lucy & Liz she put some very hefty things in a skip.