Seven GoodGymers headed to Days Lane Primary School for our very first task there — and we certainly picked a dramatic evening for it.

While the skies were busy putting on a total solar eclipse, we had our own transformation happening a little closer to ground level: turning the school fence a rather lovely sky blue.

Armed with brushes, paint and plenty of enthusiasm, the seven of us worked our way along the fence and made a pretty impressive dent in the job. There’s something very satisfying about seeing a tired-looking stretch of fence become brighter with every brushstroke — especially when you’ve got a whole team working together.

Sadly, unlike the eclipse, our fence transformation wasn’t quite total… 🌘 We ran out of evening before we ran out of fence.

Luckily, this is only the beginning of our partnership with Days Lane Primary School, and we’ll be back next week to finish the job.

A brilliant first task, a very blue fence, seven willing painters and one rather spectacular sky. Not bad for a Wednesday evening!

Over the summer we've made a couple of visits to Mr B to help tidy his garden. It had got out of control, and he wanted a hand bringing it back to a state where it would be easier for him to maintain.

Today’s focus was the wisteria, which was running rife over a trellis across the garden, and had even started sneaking next door over the neighbour’s fence.

Making the most of two hedge trimmers, and we worked on both sides at once to give everything a short back and sides. A second pass with the shears followed, getting it just the way Mr B wanted it.

Once all the cuttings were gathered up, we moved on to the plum tree, cutting back some of the lower branches and harvesting the plums that Mr B insisted we take home (as well as enjoying a few while we worked 😋!)

What a difference just an hour can make. 🌿🍑

We’ve really enjoyed our visits with Mr B, getting stuck in and hearing some of his brilliant stories.

Hopefully we’ve left the garden easier to manage, and Mr B can enjoy working on it in his own time.

7 Goodgymers turned up to help the Friends of Sutcliffe Park with an absolute Everest of a task: tearing up Himalayan balsam (not to be mistaken for celery). And there was no need to go to base camp to find it. We have all we need here at sea level.

We pulled up the balsam and separated the flowers from the stems to stop it going to seed and spreading even further. It was a real uphill battle, but we were determined to stem the tide before the balsam reached new heights.

No sherpas or oxygen needed, just a red shirt, some gloves, and the Goodgymers usual peak performance. A mountain of balsam tackled, one stem at a time.