We were delighted to be going back to support Coton Loves Pollinators at their allotment this week.

Meeting in central Cambridge, we took a lovely cycle out to Coton and were greeted by a lovely sign welcoming us 😊 Naturally, we stopped for a quick picture. We said hi to Bridget and were soon down in the allotment having briefing on the jobs for the evening. We were all struck by the beauty of the pollinator patch with the variety of flowers creating a stunning mix of colours and textures. And most satisfying was seeing the huge sunflowers with hundreds of heads, the result of our last visit were we spent some time planting them 🌻

After many photos, we got started on our three jobs for us this visit:

Caroline and Chris were gathering fresh compost (any excuse to use a wheelbarrow) before planting out allium and irises. Guided by local, Annalise, the result was an incredibly neat bed, pictured beautifully by Caroline under the moon. 🌝

I was working with Becky and Izzy to carefully remove a vast amount of verbena that had taken over one corner of the existing pollinator patch, to transfer to a new patch in the orchard were it will support bees and other pollinators. Being a pretty robust plant, the existing patch will be a burst of colour again next year too. 🐝

The third task was levelling the ground under the polytunnel ready to create growing spaces. It required the big guns, both our own and the tools, to break the very dry earth with a mattock. It was very physical work, so we took it in turns, passing the mattock like a relay baton. In around 40 minutes, the area was looking much flatter, and Izzy finished off the job by covering it in old sacks. We very much enjoyed the stress release nature of this task! ⛏️

We really noticed the season change this evening, finishing the task in the cool twilight, under the light of a very bright moon. Head torch season is coming!

At the end of the task we were treated to tea and delicious homemade scones, warm from the oven. With lashings of butter, they really hit the spot after some hard graft. We enjoyed hearing about bat sightings (we even saw one ourselves 🦇) and the bat surveys that happen in the orchard, as well as Bridget's echinacea purchasing - why by one when you can buy 60?? Exciting plans and we look forward to seeing how the patch looks in the spring.

The last Thursday of the month is social night, so if this wasn't enough fun for one evening, we stopped via the pub on the way home where it was a pleasure to meet new GoodGymer, Giugiu, who came along to meet us before joining a task soon 👋

A truly special way to finish our Thursday night allotment sessions for the season 💛

We enjoyed something a little different this weekend with a combined task in Cambridge, welcoming GoodGymers from Tower Hamlets to join us at Fox Den Community Allotment.

Becky, Debbie and I met tourists Darren, John and Kareem at the station, where Darren led us in a mobility focused warm up before we set out for a jaunt to the allotment. Taking a scenic route along the river and across the common, we soon had the allotment in sight, and never one's to turn down a challenge Kareem and Darren even managed an impressive sprint finish. I hear there was a cap peak in it.

We were greeted by a smiley Harriet and shortly afterwards joined by Ilana and Brian, who all arrived by bike, in true Cambridge style. Helena and Jacob made it a perfect 11! Shout out to Brian and Helena who joined for their first GoodGym task 🙌

As always, we were warmly welcomed by task partner, Lorna, who told us the fascinating history of the allotment and their plans to develop a forest garden on site. These incredible ecosystems rely on established trees and bushes to create nutritious soil where mycelia thrive, allowing plants to communicate and support hydration. Eventually, after 20ish years (or 1000s of GG sessions) the garden becomes self-sustaining. 🌿

Helping towards the forest garden goal, our tasks for the session involved weeding, digging and some rather unusual pond work.

Making a start on the weeding Debbie, Harriet, Helena and Ilana split between the Hugel mounds (created in a previous GoodGym session) and did a smashing job of clearing the beds.

Jacob and Becky were in charge of transforming a previously cleared storage area into a bed ready for planting, by raking and turning the soil before soaking it. Proper hard graft 💪

The rest of the group were on pond duty. First up they removed the (empty!) body-shaped bag then trampled the greenery that had taken root, choosing an innovative dancing method. Like Morris dancers round a maypole, they stomped (and clapped) the grass flat, employing some jumping to finish it off. The pond then had to be filled with clay, which proved to be a proper strength workout with a lot of heavy lifting, never seen before by the Tower Hamlets group 🏋️‍♀️ Everyone got involved and even a toad came to say hi 🐸 With all the clay bags empty and the pond full, it was ready to be left for the rain, which will soften and level it, making it suitable to be tampered into shape. A task for another day.

In just one hour then area was transformed proving that ponderful things happen when GoodGymers come together. 💛

Feeling pretty spent, it was time for some refreshment, so we headed to the river for well-earned pizza and beers. Then, eager to make the most of time in Cambridge we went on a little tour, taking in the views from St Mary's tower (another workout climbing the 123 steps!), enjoying some tasty gelato from Jack's, and rounding off the day in the sunshine ☀️

A beautiful day, channelling true GoodGym spirit, doing good and connecting with others. We look forward to visiting Tower Hamlets for more of the same soon 🙌

Another weekend, another set of parkrun volunteering credits.

This week Scott was at Brook Leys enjoying a run followed by very efficient token sorting with many hands making light work of the 350 finishing tokens.

Over at Fulbourn, I was making a much less elegant job of token sorting, opting for post-run comfort over parcticalities. There was, however, organisation in the chaos and in a short time all 150 tokens were sorted and packed away. I also arrived early doors to help with set-up. My first time doing this at Fulbourn and I've never asked so many questions about cones. We erred on the side of caution and used every cone available to mark the course and some rather large rabbit holes - it ended up looking like a race track in places (very much a run not a race).

Harriet took the lead as run director at Fulbourn, delivering an excellent briefing and overseeing another successful event! 🎉

In our most novel parkrun tourism to date, Caroline was running a vineyard parkrun and enjoyed some very crisp post-run refreshments.

Well done to all volunteers and finishers today 🙌

We were back at Jimmy's this evening for our monthly dinner service. On the menu this week: shepherd's pie & veg, with chocolate cake & chocolate custard! 😋

Keen to make the most of the sunny evening, Christopher, Catherine and I met beforehand for a 3km jog around Parker's Piece. Despite the surprisingly bracing wind, it was a delight to enjoy the last of the sun whilst we caught up and discussed about the task ahead ☀️

Energised by our run and raring to go, we were soon stopped in our tracks: the pies weren't hot enough! And so began the waiting game, checking periodically and hoping for the magic 75 °C. Entertaining ourselves with a game of 'guess the probe', it finally reached 78 °C - not quite the monumental effort of 97 °C the night before, but it was what we needed! Forming a slick 3 person production line, I dished up the pie, Chris served veg and gravy (sometimes a little too enthusiastically) and Catherine was on dessert. We soon made up for lost time and after a decent shift, had everything cleaned up! 🫧

Fantastic work again, team. It took a little longer than usual but we pulled together and did it with a laugh and a smile - as per the GoodGym Cambridge way! 🙌

GoodGymers were out supporting parkrun across the city again this week.

Scott was topping and tailing Coldham's Common parkrun with good deeds by helping with set up and token sorting. In the middle, despite a faulty watch, he managed to smash yet another PB 🙌 What a morning!

Over in Fulbourn, Harriet was gaining another volunteer credit by supporting Fulbourn hospital parkrun with token sorting. The parkrun 100 volunteer milestone is in sight!

We go again next week at Brook Leys and Fulbourn.

We had a mighty cru for our visit to SIN Cru's Definately Real Build site for this week's group session, and Lucy had a plethora of tasks ready for us.

After some great relief all round at slightly delayed meeting time Alice, Beth, Chris, Kate and Scott were on route to Arbury. I was held up, and had to run double speed to arrive on time, only to bump into the group (quite literally) round a corner on route. Soon after, we were passed by Becky and Caroline whizzing past on bikes 🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️

We were serenaded by the beautiful huskies as we arrived, which is always a treat 🎶

With a good group and many tasks, we divided and conquered:

🪏 Kate, Chris and Beth got straight to weeding, finding the marrow particularly stubborn. It called for spades, loppers and a hoe.

🪻Becky was weeding the wildflower patch and sowing new seeds, delicately trampling the soil to embed them.

🌱 Caroline was put in charge of heavy machinery and set about mowing the lawn. She then had fun aerating it - there's something very satisfying about stabbing the ground repeatedly with sturdy garden tools.

🍂 Alice and I were turning the compost and disposing of green waste. Thankfully we had proper spades rather than the kitchen forks we nearly ended up with after a little misinterpretation.

🪚 Scott was in his happy place with a saw in hand. In the space of 45 minutes he'd turned discarded pallet planks into planters. They were a sight to behold!

The site was a hive of activity and the time flew! We just had time before heading back to capture some excellent group shots featuring Scott's planters and a very photogenic dog 📸

Movement, good deeds, dog fussing and plenty of laughter, all in all a great evening. Well done team 🙌