What a night that was as a good 12 of the goodgym crew arrived eager to help out at this week's task. The gang, made up of joggers, walkers and a cyclist meeting us directly there.....All are welcome.

We were back to our friends for the first time this year at St. Edwards this evening, to do work in the Church grounds in support of Forget Me Not Cafe and the Gardening as Therapy Project.

Our Tasks

• Stripping Christmas tree branches
• Scattering Clover Seeds

Our area activator Michael has recently started looking into rewilding spaces and as such managed to get quite a few different varieties of seeds to help biodiversity. Knowing of the project, we offered some up to Kathie who was very happy to accept as part of their wildflower meadow. Our scattering crew, lit for the evening by Emma, were Dylan and Emily.

Whilst the rest of the team got to work as choppers, chippers and snippers - getting the stump! It was short work on the task as we filled the green waste bags ready for the council to collect and took the stump around to the front of the building. The stump (in case you were wondering) is going to be repurposed inside the Church for an Easter Cross.

A quick tidy up and group photo and it was time to head back, where most of the group were heading off for bottomless pancakes.

Join us next week as we head over to Samye - sign up HERE

Once again Coldplay took over the city, and transport started to move backwards.....Even Michael struggled to get to the start location on time for todays group activity.

Due to the concert some of our regulars couldn't make it into the City but we are goodgym and will not let a little thing like 70,000 people get in our way!

So to the task.......

We had received an email towards the end of last week from our friends at Cwtch Together - they had spotted some new plant popping up, and after some investigation discovered that it could be toxic for the children. After a few questions, Michael offered to bring to group to go on a plant hunt.

First - the health and safety - nothing without gloves today people.....and we will be fine, no eating the plants, they are not lovely berries!

Emma, Michael and Andrew were on spotting duty, with Emma and Andrew then getting 'deep deep down' as they dug up the plants, and as many of the bulbs as possible.

Martin and Nathan were on grass duty, cutting and strimming, with Llion weeding along the way.

And finally Emma.....

The Fire Starter

The job here, to use the weed device that heats the plants within the cracks of the pavement - stopping the plants growing. (Not quite as intense as the GIF)

It's Learning TIME

Common name Lords-and-ladies, cuckoo pint

Botanical name Arum maculatum

Areas affected Shady or woodland edge beds and borders, uncultivated ground

Main causes Self-seeding and distribution of rhizome fragments

Timing Leaves and flower spathes from spring and berries in the autumn, but tubers persist in the soil year-round

Plants can spread quickly by self-seeding and the unintentional distribution of rhizome fragments around the garden, for example in home compost. The deep rooting tubers multiply each year and are difficult to remove entirely, with fragments left behind in the soil regenerating quickly.

Tubers are swollen, usually underground, parts of a stem or root used to store food by the plant. They have buds that can produce new plants. Examples are tuberous begonia, cyclamen, dahlia and potato.

Two start locations again tonight, our newest start option at the Daffodil in the City Centre where seven plucky goodgymers met. We left at 18:30 for a nice pleasant jog through the park and over to what used to be our start location - Sport Wales National Centre, where we picked up another 2 goodgymers. Our final two for the evening where to meet us at the task, so no time to waste chatting - lets continue the walk / jog and get to Samye.

We arrived at the Samye Foundation with plenty of time to spare, which was good as tonight was the registration for the VERY popular Cosmeston Relay Race (Sells out within 30 minutes!)

Our first few minutes were spent clicking away online, hoping to get through in time, as ALL joggers and runners in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan tried to do the same.

TENSE

At last, everyone was in and it was time to get to our task for the evening. Tonight was going to be some hard volunteering.

• The old path slabs were to be removed, so that some new fruit trees could be planted
• The Soil that used to house all the shrubs needed some heavy digging and leveling
• There was compost to carry from the front of the building to the back
• An array of plant pots needed to be filled with the compost
• Some of the remaining shrubs needed a heavy prune

The task was a good old workout, all in aid of the upcoming open day that they will be having at Samye later in the year. A new double width path will be laid on all of our hard work, accessible to wheelchairs, planting with new fruit trees and some smaller plants to help bring in those pollinators and look spectacular.

After all that volunteering, the soup and sandwiches that the lovely lot had put on were a much welcome sight. I'm sure we will be back soon to help out with more, this seems like a big job.

Until next time.....

A great new task tonight, with the wonderful Christmas for CAMHS, making Christmas special for Young People I in mental health units.

Our task was to create some cards for the charity to use, Christmas Cards For CAMHS. The aim is to send a homemade Christmas Card to EVERY young person receiving inpatient mental health care this Christmas.

Can we help?

Yes WE CAN!

Michael waited, eagerly to see how many turned up as there was going to be a pre run before heading to the location to get comfortable for crafting. 4 were meeting us at the task, 2 of our group were walking, whilst the rest were ready for a run. Just a short 2 (ish) km to get the blood pumping and the creative juices flowing, then we made our way over to the lovely Littleman Coffee Shop to drink coffee, eat cake and get crafty.

All we had to do was make a homemade card (or two…!), write a lovely message inside for the young person, and then post it to us via the address below to arrive by the end of November.

Michael had already been to get a lot of supplies, some of which had been donated by lovely people. At first the group seemed quite intimidated by the task, but once the coffees were flowing and people had started it was great. The worries flew away as the glue and glitter (biodegradable and plant based - of course)flew around the tables.

There were some truly wonderful cards tonight, just take a look in the pictures at the creations. And we managed a brilliant 53 cards.

Once finished, we cleaned up after ourselves before heading out into the cold night for a quick social.

14 goodgymers got together for another Tuesday Volunteer task.

A short run in the rain tonight, as we made our way back to Samye. A mixture of tasks outside and in, but at least the outside was under cover still. Upon arrival we made our way straight in for some water and to warm up, as usual the wonderful Lorraine had made us a list to make our way through as best we could.

• Sweep up the leaves.
• Clean the tables.
• A little bit of weeding.
• Painting the skirting boards and door frames up in the flat.
• Sweeping the library and corridor and then vacuuming.

It was great to catch up with everyone, even in the rain and the work we completed was worth every damp moment. Plus we had some food and a lovely chance to chat after the task, and before our travel back.