*GoodyGym 1 - 0 Himalayan Balsam *

The battle of the Balsam commenced this week as Laurence, Amna and Rowan headed to the banks of the River Tonge to tackle some of the invasive Himalayan Balsam in support of Bolton Green Umbrella and The Big Balsam Bash.

After discovering some beautiful new paths en-route to the task, the three musketeers spent 45 minutes weeding and snapping the plants whilst enjoying birdsong and the smell of bread from the nearby Warburtons bakery, before walking back to Bolton town centre in the sunshine.

As Wednesday evenings go, this was a mighty satisfying one!

Part mission, part therapy - this week we headed to Devonshire Road Primary School to help with the demolition of a portacabin style classroom.

There were crow bars and lump hammers galore as we spent 75 minutes smashing walls to pieces - the very best way to end a Wednesday!

Sumaiya joined us for her first GoodGym session and we were also supported by David, Mumtaz, Laurence, Ken and Hannah - making this one of most attended sessions to date!

Next week we'll be returning to for some more demolition and also doing a bit of balsam bashing - be sure to sign up for a duo of highly satisfying missions!

The sun was shining, the birds were singing and the GoodGymers were grafting as 5 of us headed to Wild & Fruity Community Garden to support with a whole load of tasks.

Well done to Hannah for joining in with her very first GoodGym session 👏

It was great to welcome back Steph for her second time as well as regulars Mark and Laurence too.

Between us we shifted a load of concrete flags, painted a shed and moved a whole load of earth to level some ground.

Another hugely satisfying and productive 60 minutes of effort helping a brilliant local organisation, thanks to Leesa and Trish for having us along, we'll definitely be back for more ASAP!

On a beautiful spring evening, we supported the amazing Wild & Fruity Community Garden by shifting a huge pile of wood chippings and laying them on the path leading to the allotment.

It was a pleasure to welcome first timers Mark, Ken and Steph for their very first GoodGym session - hopefully they will all be back for more!

We are looking forward to getting stuck in to plenty more tasks at Wild & Fruity over the coming months 💪

It's amazing how much you can do in 30 minutes, Mumtaz, Laurence and Rowan headed to Bolton Solidarity Community Association to support with a site tidy up and a sudden downpour certainly hurried things along somewhat.

After a short, 1 mile run over from our meeting point at The Sir Jason Kenny Centre, the three of us blitzed the litter that had gathered in bushes, hedgerows and the various corners around the outside of the community centre and collected four full bags in just 30 minutes!

An awful lot can be done in a collective 90 minutes of effort, squeezed into just 30 minutes, especially when getting rained on!