Yes, its another Musically-inspired GoodGym report...🎼"But Goodgymers are all around me & so the good deeds grow... 🙂"

The last Wednesday of the January Challenge dawned like the recent pink skies over the Charlton area, and 11 Goodgym-ers awoke to pass the time until tonight's task. 🎼Workin 9-5 helped with that, and soon 6.45 rolled around, time to 🎼Run the World...or at least to St Richard's Community Church in Charlton. Our task this evening was based in the back garden area of the church, continuing our valiant battle against the ever-present weeds in the area. All while trying not to get 🎼Blinded by the Light (of the many head-torches). The recent rain had helped soften the ground a little, making pulling up the weeds that bit easier, and it wasn't long before we had a veritable stack of vegetation. A quick dig over with the 🎼Ace of Spades and our work was done.

Great work all & a warm welcome to Alina on your first task!

Next week we're meeting at Charlton House for some weeding at Charlton URC.. On Saturday as well as the ususal Parkrun volunteering, we have litter picking in Sutcliffe Park.

Until next time!

Planting the bulbs at Florence Green had been months in the making! First the council didn't deliver them on time and then we were scuppered by the frozen ground meaning we couldn't get them in the soil even though they'd arrived. We finally had a date in the diary and there hadn't been any frost in sight.

The Glass Mill group made their way up to Florence Green whilst others met us at the task. Paul was in a virtual Cardiff suburb (Lewisham Way) tackling the litter to help achieve a relay that GoodGym Cardiff are doing for the January Challenge.

Once all assembled and the bulbs in hand, we set about planting big bulbs closest to the tree and smaller bulbs towards the outside. We had to be careful not to dig up bulbs that we've previously planted and also deep enough so the squirrels don't try and dig them up for a tasty snack!

It's nearly the end of the January Challenge and we're so close to achieving our goal - fantastic work team!!

Three lovely volunteers came together at Charlton parkrun to lend a hand, taking on different roles. It was my very first time doing barcode scanning, and thanks to some friendly guidance (and the app downloaded just in time!), I was up and running in no time.

Another great early start, another chance to do something meaningful—and that’s what makes these mornings so special. Parkrun relies on volunteers to keep these free events going every Saturday, and if you’ve got the time, we’d really encourage you to give it a go.

With GoodGym, there are tasks to choose from. Want to get involved? Check out the parkrun and GoodGym websites.

Volunteering has a wonderful way of giving back to you as much as it does to the community—and that impact is pretty amazing.

Task done, it was selfie time—not to brag, but to encourage 😉 Happy volunteering, everyone. Take care!