Lowri Davies

Due to reasons beyond our control tonight's task had to cancel at the last minute, not to be stopped we decided to put on a plog of the park.

Nathan cycled down to provide us with plenty of litter picking bags, even though he wasn't joining us for the session (what a STAR) and whilst waiting we welcomed back Peter after a whole YEAR and to the FIRST ever session we welcomed Siki.

All gloved and bagged up we split into two group, one for the walkers and one for the runners and off we went. First, we made our way to the fields of Junior parkrun to see if they needed a tidy up, along the way hitting the rugby club car park and trying to figure out how you can lose your socks?

After 20 minutes it was spotless and time to move on, so we got together and ran ourselves over to the start of the Blackweir parkrun (I'm sensing a theme here). We found a dog or three along the way who seemed as though they wanted to join as our mascots, chatted to some locals about goodgym and what we do whilst also obviously cleaning the well-used pathways.

As we got close to the beginning there was just enough time to quickly hit the balance trail and test our skills, from rope bridges to springboards it was certainly a test and great fun.

A quick photo for the end and our evening was complete, thanks to everyone for helping to keep the park the beautiful place that we all need it to be.

It was time for our longer run this month, not to be put off 12 goodgymers got together at our meeting point at Sport Wales National Centre. We split into our two groups with the 5 walk / joggers heading out first to tackle the 3.5 km to Oasis whilst the 7 runners took a slightly different route through the park.

It was a hot day for this run, but we chatted all the way and made it in good time to meet up with our regular goodgymer Karolina, who today donned her Oasis hat.

We kept hydrated with some water and had a look around.

It had changed since the last time we had helped here with some new planters, trellis, and even more planting. Today there was some painting of the new planters and old sign, watering, general tidying up.

Oh, wait here come the walk / joggers to join in. Everyone got stuck in with their chosen tasks and we even had opportunities to chat to Karolina about some of the plants that were around the gardens.

The 30 minutes flew by so fast that we were nearly late leaving, just enough time for a quick group photo before heading back and popping out for some food and a bit of a social.

Always great times with this team.

On a gorgeous Saturday morning, 5 good gym members arrived at Clive Street eager to see with their own eyes the mysterious garden of happiness. They were first greeted by Emma, who showed them the back garden, the tools and most importantly the jelly babies!

The task was one of the most straightforward they have had lately:

• clear the garden from the weeds.

At first, it seemed daunting as the back garden was rather large and some of the weeds, such as nettle began to look like trees.

The team, formed of Michael, Sean, Lowri, Martin and Karolina began hacking away in complete silence. They were all too focused on the goal and that "after" picture. While clearing, a friendly neighbour popped up saying there are hedgehogs living at the bottom of the garden. No surprise there! It was a haven for all kinds of species including spiders, bees, leaf bugs. Carefully then, the team proceeded to pay attention to all kinds of creatures.

Halfway through the task, they have realised that the garden is covered with plastic sheets and so there was no digging involved at all. There was also very little rubbish apart from bricks and stones that were there to keep the sheets in place. In 1 hr they have cleared 80 % of the site and decided it is a good time to leave it at that. The bottom of the garden was perfect for wildlife if left as is.

Despite being stung by tree size nettles, the team was very pleased with their efforts. Although the garden has a long way to go, the difference they have made was huge. Now, the residents and the housing association can at least see what really hides beneath the bindweeds and nettles.

They will without a doubt make the garden wonderful for years to come.

Interesting facts:

• It was the first community mission for Cadwyn Housing Association, which is a non-for profit organization aiming to provide affordable accommodation for people of all walks of life. Their partner organisation is Nulife Furniture which Good Gym helped out before.
• it was the 200th community mission for Martin and the 25th for Karolina.
• Hedgehogs are the gardeners best friends as they eat slugs. It is good to leave patches of gardens unkept so they can go about their lives undisturbed (https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife/animals/hedgehogs/garden)
• Bindweed - Although a troublesome weed for many gardeners, bindweed flowers do provide pollen for bees and the leaves are a source of food for the larvae of convolvulus hawk moths (source https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=241)