When we set out this morning for Hannah More primary school I was wondering whether we'd have enough gooding for our 23 Goodgym'ers. We were due to be helping out with their Willow arch and it seemed like with so many enthusiastic helpers we might be finished in 10 minutes.

But I had reckoned without Ruth, our fantastic host who was completely prepared for us with a shopping trolley full of litter pickers and four or five raised beds containing spades and forks borrowed from Windmill Hill community farm down the road.

Willow Taming

The Willow tamers were instructed by our second host for the day Veronica, and were soon trimming low level off shoots with secateurs and winding and tying together the higher lengths to reinstate the arch, stopping only for a short chocolate biscuit break (thanks for the biscuits, Ruth!)

Double Digging

The diggers were to double dig the raised beds used for instructing the children in all things horticultural. Double Digging involves aeratingtwo spade depths of soil by removing one layer with a spade and then loosening the layer below with a fork. Sadly I hadn't done my research this time and had forgotten how to do it, for those who are interested there is a nice animation here - note that it's not actually necessary to rotate the layers but it kept Liam busy and I'm pretty sure the beds were well aerated by the end!

A different class of litter

Our litter picker team worked hard throughout and were reinforced by the diggers towards the end so they could blitz the remaining area at the front of the school. Our resident teacher Darren nodded knowingly as he removed a couple of pairs of scissors that appeared to have been cast out of a nearby window and recalled various other random items which had appeared in his class from time to time as children 'redistributed' the contents of the Scrapstore playpod.

Meanwhile, Dave and Chris had noticed some stray items up in one of the trees in the school field. Borrowing a ladder from the Willow tamers they succeeded in removing the objects including a hula hoop which was sadly not demonstrable having been cut to remove it.

Four Hundred Good Deeds for Dave

This was the week that Dave, our amazing Godfather of Goodness and all round Mission Master passed 400 good deeds. Congratulations Dave - thanks for all you do for us here in Bristol in co-ordinating all our missions and in the run leading and amazing support you provide on Saturdays.

The early morning rain had eased off by the time we got to Roll for the Soul, a couple of us having already visited Eastville parkrun either to help Mel out with some volunteering or else to run the course.

Steph had joined us for the morning and she had brought along some of her Goodgym calendars. These feature various Goodgym runners on tour around the world and would make a nice Christmas present - with any proceeds split between a cancer charity and Goodgym. I'll have a few with me on Tuesday if you would like one.

It was a lovely surprise to also be joined by Kim with Chris taking on child care duties for the morning. Kim had joined us for a while at the Berry Maze and Bramble farm, but it was great to have her join us for the whole run out today - welcome back, Kim!

The warm-up featured a new film review segment with everyone revealing their last watch. No doubt favourable conclusions could be drawn about the personality types of GG members when the most-watched turned out to be Paddington!

Its always a long run out to Manor Woods valley, but it was a little longer still today as we slipped past our usual orchard location and headed up the woodland path for some coppicing.

Martin was a great host as always and gave us some guidance on how best to tackle the hazel and ash growth in our little clearing. We were using loppers, pruning saws and a bow saw and Martin explained that the best way to cut was with a 45 degree slope away from the centre of the stool (stump area) so that water could run off away from the cut branches. He also showed us how to nick the outside first so that the bark remained in-tact after cutting and the tree could be better protected against disease.

Apparently we were to see ourselves as beavers - with loppers taking the place of sharp teeth; managing the forest by allowing hazel to grow back in more useful strong and compact lengths. A quick glance at Chris following this statement indicated that with "saw"s and "beavers", the pun was in the bag, however having had time to reflect on the fact that I tend to share these reports around a little more widely now I've made the call that maybe it wouldn't quite receive the required GG certificate for family viewing.

Moving on ...

Some of us split into pairs to take on the coppicing while others took the remaining loppers to tackle a little bramble growth. The coppicers took on some large specimens and all around were calls of 'Timber' as some satisfying felling took place, with runners posing proudly by their hazel specimens in a manner similar to a sea fisherman and his prize catch. Steph also seemed to enjoy the opportunity to work out a little pent-up aggression with the aid of a bow saw and a hazel trunk.

This was a fun task and it was even harder than usual to tear people away today, so even with a rather brisk run back we were a little late arriving back at base. Apologies for that - but hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves today and I look forward to seeing you all again soon!

A mathematical warm up tonight with odds, evens, high 5s and even some prime numbers before we all headed off to Emmaus. Splitting into two groups with Charlie helping to lead the second we made short work of the 1.5k distance.

On arrival, Xanne described how Emmaus provides accomodation and training for people who were previously homeless, helping them to get back into work again either in Emmaus' own shops, taking on PAT testing, house clearances or simply going on to find a job outside the community.

We were then given our task for the evening and amazingly Christmas had come early for Bristol Goodgym! We were to get all the Christmas decorations out of storage and sort them either for sale or for use in the shop displays.

Kait quickly saw the potential for a human chain to move the decorations to the ground floor and in no time we had groups sorting tinsel from baubles while sporting various festive garments and in some cases breaking into some Christmas singing!

Several people were tasked with test-assembling Christmas trees to make sure all the parts were there and it was heart-warming to see how these individuals quickly bonded with their trees. See the photos for evidence of this. Does Dave look proud of little Samyule? What about Liam - a little protective of Uncle Firn? And surely Lisa is particularly chuffed with baby Noel!

Another group tackled the largest of the trees, puzzling out all the colour coded branches - while Mel set about testing the Christmas lights to make sure they worked. Another group set to work decorating one of the trees .

By the end we had boxes of decorations ready for sale and trees all ready for display. With a festive group photo in the bag, we headed back to base, squeezing in a few step-ups and squats on the way back to help ensure we can all fit into our Christmas jumpers next month,

A great turn out today, with some new Saturday faces and plenty of our participants having run across from the inaugural Eastville park run - where it sounds like things went really well and Liam completed his first ever park run - well done Liam!

A second visit to the new Bristol YMCA in the space of a week meant that we could continue to help prepare the dormitories for their future guests in this innovative project that mixes paying guests and young homeless people to create a non-judgemental and non-stigmatising environment that is hopefully conducive to a future life off of the streets.

This project has a hd a lot going for it but it certainly can't be described as a challenging run from our start point, so after a warm-up we took the long way round taking in Castle Park for a bit of a running train - meticulously planned so everyone could have a go at driving!

On arrival at the hostel, Ben explained that having moved the bed frames from the ground floor, it was now time to distribute them around the dormitories and ... if there was time ... put some together! It was at this point that we discovered there were in fact 2 extra floors to the hostel beyond the ones we had visited on Tuesday - but we soon had the various frames, ladders and side sections in place and just as Ben had promised we were let loose on their construction.

With all the weeding and bramble clearing that goes on at Goodgym, its not that often that we have the chance to create as opposed to destroy so everyone seemed to enjoy this rare opporunity and a great many beds had been constructed by the time we had to leave - expecially with Sarah and Flo having joined us to help out as well.

Thanks for coming everyone, it was great to help Ben out again - and a very warm welcome to Emma for her first GG Bristol run today!