🌤️ 22 excellent GoodGymmers met for this evening’s (mercifully dry and unexpectedly sunny) group run. We were thrilled to welcome Joanna for her first group run and congratulated Graham on his 50th good deed. Excellent stuff 💪

☔️ We named, numbered and warmed up whilst discussing our favoured wet weather activities. Baking, reading and games featured highly, alongside getting out and enjoying the rain in various different ways 🧩

🥳 The party (or is that picnic, or maybe sexy) pace group set off first, followed by another group that was swiftly split in half at the first set of traffic lights. Thus, the first half took the “scenic” route to get there and arrived later than the rest of us despite their objectively speedier legs 🦵

🌺 We were greeted by Gordon and some other local volunteers who were slightly wowed by the number of us. More tools were sourced and an explanation given as to our purpose there. We’re supporting the transformation of this area into a wildflower area and our main tasks this evening were to rake the “arisings” and get rid of as many pesky docks as possible in the time available ⌛️

🌱 So those with rakes raked and those with spades dug (leading to some impressively long dock roots!) being extracted! Those without tools used their hands to pull up as many weeds as possible from around the edge and also to gather the arisings piles into bags to be dragged into the undergrowth 🌳

📸 The team worked swiftly and were able to make good progress in a short amount of time. It was soon time for our group photo, before ceremoniously “throwing” our tools over the wall to be returned to their homes. A rather larger party pace group returned, some might wonder if to avoid tonight’s fitness session 🤔

🎲 Said fitness session did involve the “dice of doom”, which aren’t actually that bad (especially as some exercises were vetoed for being too floor-based). We got some good exercise in before heading back to base and on to the pub/home 🍻

📆 There are some exciting sessions coming up this week so do join if you can. Thanks for another great session everyone 😁

👍 23 excellent GoodGymmers braved the uncertain weather for our group run this evening.

👏 We welcomed back Becky and congratulated Nikki, Nick and David on their incredible Snowdonia marathon efforts yesterday 💪

👣 Theresa set off on foot, Dom and Barbara led a party pace group whilst Mitch tempered his natural running pace to lead another fairly leisurely group. We also had a few cyclists, coming from CVS and meeting us at the task so the full range!

🌱 We all gathered at St Aelred’s Primary School where we were warmly and enthusiastically welcomed by Katrina and Freya. We quickly set to work, chopping back overgrowth to shovel and spread woodchip on the path. Other groups were checking on our newly-planted trees and litter-picking 🥫

🥾 A third woodchip vehicle (a trailer) was sourced, which increased efficiency and meant we were able to cover all the paths in the enclosed forest school area in the time available. We almost started on the path outside but the was some debate on whether to wait for the edging for that. We may do it next week when we’re back.

🥹 Looking back at the end of our session, it was really lovely to see the transformation compared to when we first started going there. It was also brilliant to hear from Katrina that the pre-school have already started using it and getting lots of benefits from exploring the outdoors there. She’s excited to see how the rest of the school will use it when the new outdoor classroom is added in a couple of weeks.

🔥 Meanwhile, we’ll be back there next week to finish spreading woodchip on the paths. They’ve also found a patch they’d like us to clear and woodchip, hoping to add some seating and even a fire pit there, which is pretty cool.

🍻 It was soon time to head back to base in our various groups and onto the pub where it was great to chat to Theresa about all things GoodGym 👌