It's been some time since our last visit and wow - what a sight! Pretty yellow weeds absolutely everywhere. It was a shame to remove them. They looked lovely all around the STEAM Museum and in the Traverser itself. According to the expert Kay, these weeds are in fact Ragwort and very harmful to horses. So beware horses - do not go near STEAM until GoodGym have done some weeding!

We managed to clear the entire area except for the section where the traverser sits. An excuse for a return visit in August perhaps?!

It was great to see so many GoodGym'ers this evening; lots of chatter and laughter - something we all need right now.

Hope to see you all again very soon. In the meantime thank you so much for your help in clearing the Traverser. It is very much appreciated by staff and visitors at the STEAM museum.

To celebrate our 2nd birthday we held a training session! Given the options for social gatherings are limited, i think we did a pretty good job.

Two running groups and a walking group went for a jaunt round Lydiard, taking in the lake and then the "parkrun bit".

Bring your own cake complemented the café ice creams and coffees well. Not too many coffees were on the cards given the heat.

Four little tree sprites then appeared from the woods (one on a trike) and it turned out it was one of the sprite's birthdays too. So that meant more cake 🎂 of course.

Promise a proper party next year, hoping this virus has jogged on by then.

Whilst other Goodgymers continued good work at St Mary's Church in Lydiard Park, 9 of us got together for the ultimate(?) pub quiz! hosted by Richard. Well if we did have the ultimate pub quiz then we probably had in our midst the ultimate pub quiz competitor.

Out of 30 questions, plus a bonus Stuart, missed a clean sweep by failing to know who wrote the 1899 novel "Heart of Darkness" but then did anyone know the answer was Joseph Conrad. I'd only hear of the film but didn't know there were multiple films based on the novel! Is 30/31 the record for one of our quizzes?

Don't be put off joining us next week as Stuart is guaranteed not to win as he's volunteered to be quiz master.

Some of us discovered that Glengarry, although sounding like a rather good single malt scotch would not go down well as it's a Scots cap. Perhaps best to keep to the most consumed manufactured drink in the world, tea. At least we all knew Ethylene Glycol was antifreeze rather than a wine additive, if anyone is old enough to get that reference.

We finished, as we started, reflecting on what we were doing for holidays this summer. A few days in Torquay if the weather is good for some. A trip to Manchester by canal for the quiz master but the trip we all wanted to go on was a trip to Alton Towers. Some would look forward to the rides, some wouldn’t be put off by our GoodGym weeding missions but would look forward to the gardens.

But what we are all looking forward to is celebrating our birthday in August. We may only get together for a socially distanced ice cream in Lydiard Park (other Parks are available) but it’s the company that matters and we’ll all have a good socially distanced natter and look forward to bigger celebrations in the future.

We all sang Princess Leia happy birthday and hope she has a wonderful birthday!

For this week's quiz we took a little diversion from general knowledge questions in an attempt to find some unchartered quiz territory - not easy after 18 weeks of lockdown. We did pretty well with the exception of the Sweets and Chocs round - it seems Swindon Borough Council may also be fans of the sweet treats! The biscuit round proved to be popular with most quizzers scoring highly - we do like to think of ourselves as biscuit connoisseurs which led to debate over the merits of the Fig Roll; whether a Viennese Whirl was in fact a cake (apparently Mr Kipling says it is!); and some interesting attempts to spell Garibaldi.

During the quiz there was a bit of a rumpus in one particular household, where a visiting GoodGymer who had popped round for the evening, got to use the newly installed toilet seat in the bathroom first. This was not popular with the residents of the house 🚽😂 but we were all pleased to hear that it was very comfy, and soft close! Posh!

The grand finale was the 'Does It Float?' round 💦. The floatation tank had been prepared in advance and excitement had been building throughout the day. This was a particularly nerve-wracking moment for the hostess, as large bodies of water, general clumsiness, and laptops do not mix well. Having guessed earlier which of the various household items would float or sink, we moved on to the live test of the items including a CD, a grapefruit, chocolate, baked beans, Patrone and some handcuffs! The rubber ducky had everyone stumped 😆, and who knew a wooden mouse would sink but a wooden hedgehog would float?

After all that splish splashing and excitement, we drew it to a close and announced Stuart as the victor. Well done Stuart!

In a change to the usual format, instead of a quiz night we had a Bingo Night hosted by Stuart. Actually, it wasn’t Stuart but his alter-ego Tarquin Flange who hosted the evening with his dark brown wig on.

Unfortunately Tarquin isn’t very experienced with Bingo calling, so he made it up as went along. Numbers such as : ‘Kelly’s Eye - number Three’ and ‘Open the bathroom window – number two’ were a couple of examples.

Charles appeared in his new guise, with haircut and beard trim. No long the mountain man, more bank robber.

The numbers came thick and fast, and a third of the way through Teresa was in the lead and Tracey C was in last place.

It got more and more exciting towards the finish, and we checked to see how many numbers were needed to win.

Then we had two or three people needing just one number. Boom – it happened. From last place to being the winner – Tracey C.

Apparently the first thing she’s ever won too. Forever to be known as The *GoodGym Swindon Bingo Champion 2020. *Well done Tracey!

Then [Richard]( mentioned Porn Star names (can’t remember why), which is apparently the name of your first pet and your Mother’s maiden name.

• Teresa - Goldie Page
• Tracey – Fluffy French
• Gaby – Floppy Duke
• Tracy – Bessie Ricks
• Kay – Toby Ricks
• Lily – Brandy Aniedi
• Hannah – Pat Saundry
• Charles – Sooty Lee
• Richard – Pip Field
• Stuart – Snuggles Brown

Next Week our Bingo Champ Tracey (or should I say Fluffy) will be hosting – don’t know what yet – it’s a surprise!