Pete, Lewis and Rachel welcomed back Helen who is fast becoming a GoodGym Derby regular and also Manlin on their first volunteering session with us!

It was great to see a new face on the team, Manlin is interested in the Tiny Forest site as part of their research work for their dissertation.

The team assembled at the Tiny Forest having travelled there by car, train or on foot and set about a plan for the evening. Thanks to Pete for clearing some litter from the recreation ground in front of the Tiny Forest site, Pete collected a bag of litter and left this at a bin at the end of the session.

The team made a visible impact, clearing nettles, thistles and ragwort and making the beginnings of paths inside the Tiny Forest. This was all whilst being distracted by a furry visitor who was very interested in what the group were doing. It transpired a local resident had been feeding the fox and now pretty tame, it had come to see if any food was available.

For most of the group, it was their first time at a Tiny Forest site so it was great to have Helen there who knows the site well as she and her work colleagues planted the trees when the site was first created.

Thanks again for everyone who helped out and good luck to Lewis who has two huge life events happening over the next few weeks.

Keep an eye out for the next Tiny Forest session with GoodGym Derby.

Tracey and Gwyn had noticed brambles and stinging nettles growing right by your side over part of a parkrun course (Nant y Pandy). We didn't want the runners to have an injury when tomorrow comes so we did the walk along the course. We felt seventeen again and I wondered "who's that girl hidden in the foliage?"; there must be an angel. It was Tracey, cutting away the overgrowth. It made a big difference and we were happy. Sweet dreams are made of this.

Ashley, Naomi, Mandy, Helen and Pete met on a beautiful Saturday morning to help out Ian of the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with some little picking and collection of discarded items. Along our way we discovered two tents hidden in the trees. One of tent seemed to be still in use, possibly by someone fishing, the other was long since abandoned so needed to be collected and disposed of responsibly. Taking a long loop around we collected several bags full of litter, chopped down an overhanging branch and generally have a great time chatting and laughing. We are all looking forward to helping out the Wildlife Trust on a regular basis.

Tracey and Gwyn met Khara at the Derby Summer Sessions at Markeaton Park. It's not unusual for us to volunteer. We were looking after the accessible area across the borderline, which was not too much pressure. The huge marquee was set up on the green green grass and the accessible area was in a corner, elevated above the capacity crowd: an area of dreams that wasn't out of reach. We didn't see an expected guide dog, not even a pussycat. The audience were mostly well behaved: just an occasional whisky drinking woman. We were there for six hours and heard some great artists. Can you work out who they were?

Tracey and Gwyn met Alex from DCF and the happy group at the Parkinson's Cricket session in Allestree. Our first task was car park marshalling: there's a lot going on here! We then fixed the tripped MCB to get some lights: the Pilates class before us had been in semi-darkness. Alex arranged a great session of cricket-based activities and we had an active time chasing after balls. We always chat over tea and biscuits at the end making it a lovely morning. It'll be filmed next week (I've suggested Fortnum and Mason biscuits): sign up and be a film star!

I cycled a 16km round trip to do a spot of garden tidying for Mrs O, and was given a warm welcome by Miss B, the lady who helps her out. The path is a bit clearer now, and about 80% of the lawn has been mown. Unfortunately the cable wasn't quite long enough for the mower to reach the entire lawn. All the same, Mrs M and Miss B were both very appreciative of the help I was able to give, and very generous in offering drinks and smiles.