For this morning's task we spent our time helping Abbey People at the Margaret Community Orchard. Our aim was to clear a path to find a hidden pond. Nick and Harriet donned their gloves and picked up shears and loppers to take on the thorny task of cutting down a forest of brambles. We managed to clear a path to a rather malodorous pond. Nick valiantly endeavoured to clear debris from the pond. The sun came out to reward us and we were serenaded with some lovely birdsong.

Alongside our weekly community missions, GoodGymers in Cambridge have been out doing good across the city, helping the local community and pushing us closer to our January Challenge target!

Nick cleared litter from some of the worst hit areas. Not only did he clear it, he sorted the recyclables to ensure they were disposed of responsibly and reported fly-tipping to the council.

Michele did an extra leaflet drop for Cambridge City Foodbank covering another two streets on a daily walk.

Catherine took a plastic tub to a Greene King pub in support of Macmillan Cancer Support.

Great work team 🙌

This weekend, a group of goodgymers helped out with parkruns all around Cambridge!

At our first Brook Leys parkrun of 2026, Catherine and Caroline had an early start to set-up the course. Beginning with signage around the lake, the duo then set up the start area and got creative with some cones to set up a 2-way system at a tight corner. They even bumped into some of the Girls That Jog at the start line 💪

All this served as a good warm-up to then run the course together, with Ross and Nick joining for even more goodgym representation 🪧🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Over at Fulbourn Hospital parkrun, Harriet had a full roster of volunteers to coordinate, and the session was a complete success! 🏆

As is becoming somewhat of a tradition, the group enjoyed pastry treats and some hot drinks to warm up afterwards 🥐☕️

A bit of soggy plogging for this evening's task.

Five Googymers braved the rain to help keep the streets of Cambridge clean and tidy. We jogged along Mill Road and split into two teams to litter pick our way back to the meet point. We found the usual coffee cups, plastic bottles, and a shocking number of cigarette butts. Nick had been at it before we met and collected a bag full of batteries! As a bonus we saw a Dinky Door (tiny street art), which is always fun.

The weather might have been miserable, but catching up and improving the local area always feels good.

We're half way through the January Challenge and we end the week with a few more kms and some all important good deeds.

Well done team 🙌

We lichen winter pruning at Margaret Wright Community Orchard.

Our second year joining the Abbey People team to prune the apple trees. Getting it right now will result in a healthier, more bountiful crop in the summer 🍎

Each cycling to the task, taking extra care on the icy roads, Harriet, Nick and I met at the orchard. Nick brought extra energy and positivity for a cold January morning ✨

We had an introduction from Leo, whose passion and knowledge inspired us all to get going! We learned how to prune effectively to ensure the tree grows in the most efficient shape, energy is directed to productive areas, and so that the tree looks nice (aesthetics are important too!). We learned about tip pruning of younger plants and using thinning cuts on more established trees to ensure there is enough light getting to the buds.

We got to it, finding the outward-facing buds and chopping, as well as removing water shoots (new, non-fruiting shoots), which prevents energy being wasted on growth where it's not needed.

It was a cold one today, so extra kudos for GoodGymers who showed up to start January strong 🙌