It was almost like the old Saturdays of Bristol GoodGym as we “massed” (by current standards) at the lake in Eastville Park having gathered some GGers and tools at the Nissen Hut. We welcomed Sophie to her first ever GG session whilst second-timers Jennifer and Daisy took on the wheelbarrow skills test of bumping down steps to the lake.

We searched out the weediest bits of the lakeside (before they could become the seediest bits) and set to with our trowels, scrapers, shovel and broom to fill multiple wheelbarrows with weeds and soil. We baked in the sunshine and basked in the shade and made brilliant progress around the lake. It was difficult to get people to stop for our elderflower cordial and Tim’s delicious chocolate and raspberry cake as our reward for an excellent morning’s chat and good seeding.

Having collected TWO HANDFULS of GoodGymmers for this mission including Daisy’s debut, there was much scraping and gentle prying at Eastville Park’s lakeside to remove oodles of weeds and NO stones fell into the lake.

The fitness session then really took hold as we tried to get our haul back up to the hut, plus the wheelbarrow with a now pancake flat wheel. Two big bags of weeds were carried up the Big Steps, the wheel barrow was reverse manoeuvred and we celebrated with elderflower cordial and Nathalie’s celebration gluten-free ginger cookies.

And we all want to be extras as Chloe seems to have a good gig going there...

The path between the old bowling green and the Nissen hut is now much more social, allowing for distancing or gathering - much digging, sifting and weeding meant ending up with two more barrow loads of weeds, a full compost bin and a bag of other diggings. And cordial drinking. And avoiding the rain which re-started as soon as we headed for our respective homes!

Great to have Will along for his first Eastville task and second GoodGym good deed.