After the past two weeks soggy and wet missions it was exciting to be back GoodGyming in dry and early Autumnal conditions again. This week we were off to our newly newly, adopted bed in Canbury Gardens. After a consultation with Glendale about our previously adopted bed, we were advised to change locations. So although the team had previously been though the original bed and done a marvellous job at weeding it, we needed to start from scratch again on this new area. Smaller in size but perhaps better located and more manageable, it will hopefully be a wise move.

After a short sharp 2.5km run/cycle there, and a visit to the tool shed, we briefly discussed the initial plan of this abandoned area - get rid of the weeds and save any nice-looking plants, especially the pretty ones still flowering. Jassy came armed with a soil testing kit and will hopefully have the results for us in a few weeks. Rachel was identifying the different plants and the 2 trees on the plot (a Magnolia and Cypress something or other...) Everyone else was doing a grand job at digging, pulling, raking and shovelling weeds and old rots, into the bag in order to clear the bed and make it look like a well-maintained area.

After 45 mins the bed was transformed, from overgrown weed filled patch to a clear neat and tidy looking well managed bed. Now all we need is the bug hotel and a name for the plaque... suggestions in the group chat please.

Lovely morning spent with the All Saint's gardening crew clearing the paths from weeds round the church. They've got some big meetings ahead relating to the Queen's funeral and they were grateful to have help making the church look its best. Petra, Claire, Samantha and Rachel got stuck in removing the moss between the huge slabs and bagging it up for removal. Halfway through the task Karim joined us so our task load lightened and we finished quicker than planned.

Carys said 'it was a pleasure having the GoodGym volunteers helping us today. What a difference it made! Very much appreciated. Thank you.'

Great work team!

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day! The rain, however, did not deter a good turn out for our GoodGym group run this evening. We ran up to Vine Close to clear a huge pile of branches that had been thrown in a big pile - ideal for a bonfire (isn't that coming up soon?!) but Elliot had other ideas that were more wildlife-friendly. The plan was to saw up the bigger branches and keep them separate to make wood piles for the insects - the smaller branches and leaves went into huge bags ready for collection.

After a quick run through of the evening's tasks, we got to it and the team split up to tackle different areas. The rain slowly got heavier the longer we were there but instead of giving up, we doubled down to get the job done. Elliot mentioned there was a pond underneath which was confirmed when someone put their foot in it. Kate also spotted frogs which was a great wildlife find and gave us another reason to uncover their home for them.

Elliot was pleased with the fast progress and has asked us to come back again in a couple of weeks so we can finish the job and hopefully locate the pond but without falling in next time.

Welcome to Karim and Sabit on your first mission! We hope you enjoyed it - hope to see you at a mission again soon.