We were at St Christopher's for our Saturday morning community mission, where we were asked to focus on tidying up the front of the building, chopping back the hedges blocking the view from the office window and sweeping up the autumn leaves starting to fall.

We signed in and headed to the back garden where the tools are kept in the shed, happy to find new brooms even if we weren't so lucky with garden shears and the hedge trimmer was missing its battery.

We got to work and made quick progress chopping (Chris and JP) and sweeping (Africa and Manuela) and were soon filling multiple black bags with cuttings and leaves.

At the end of the allotted time we admired our handiwork, took our group selfie and headed off for a well-earned Saturday.

To the tune of Mambo No. 5

Ladies and gentlemen, this is GoodGym Three Pigeons

One, two, three, four, five The rest will meet us there, so come on, let's stride To the sponsored plot around the corner The AA wants some more squats And we really all wanna Red top like I had last week I must squat deep because talk is cheap We got Adam, Lucy, Sam, Manuela And as we workout, you know they getting sweatier (uh)

So what can we do? We love to show you, To us is doing good is just like a sport Anything fly, it's all good, let me sort it Please set in the trumpet

A little bit of Manuela in my life A little bit of Susannah by my side A little bit of Lucys all I need A little bit of JPs what I see A little bit of Steph & Ken in the sun A little bit of Lizzie all night long A little bit of Cathy, here I am A little bit of Adam and then Sam (ah) Mambo Three Pigeons (ah)

In the past we have done a couple of missions on the Ham Lands which involved clearing tree suckers, the new growth which sprouts up from the root system around the base of a tree.

(Ordinarily, a tree will always seek to create a balance between its growth above ground and its root system below ground. Suckers are essentially a tree’s attempt to produce more above-ground growth when that balance is disrupted, for example when the tree itself is damaged or has constrained growth.)

Both of the previous missions were written up with the title “So long, suckers” (the second one maybe accompanied by a “2”). And let’s be honest, there is no better title - so out it comes again for this new report.

The task itself was enjoyable and satisfying, with a nice big clump of suckers to remove which the 5 of us tackled with gusto, some clipping the suckers away at the base and others loading up the big sack to carry the waste off to dump in the woods. We then got to work on some brambles with mattocks - seeking in their case to get the whole roots out.

After an hour of quite vigorous work we headed to the Swiss Bakery for delicious coffee and a nice chat. It was great to have Harry back amongst us after a spell, and we look forward to another task in October - sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-the-happy-ham-landers-7d9e7187-09f0-4535-a025-40b37c6e0552

Amazingly it's a whole year since we last leafletted for the CVS trustee evening! Today we set out to cover approx 4km each, thats 32km of road total covered in one session sharing news of the upcoming event!

September's weekend visit to the 3Ps plot saw Alex, Jp and Chris really take the hedge off close to our arcade at Buccleuch Gardens and ensured it was more accessible.

Elsewhere, Monika, Manuela and Adam made good use of the brand new cutting-hedge secateurs to dead head the fading plants and generally make the plot tidier heading into the Autumn season.

Once our yard -work was done, we made sure to make time to appreciate the butterflies. We will be back later this month to finish the job.

See link below for the next 3Ps visit: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/looking-after-our-sponsored-riverside-plot-plus-fitness-session-f735ec27-83fb-48a0-ba35-4ada9db087fe

A crew of GoodGymers rolled up to the One O’Clock Club at Marble Hill Play Centre, ready to tackle a trio of tasks.

Upon arrival, we were warmly welcomed by Kelly, who gave us an introduction to the space and we got ready for the tasks.

What We Got Up To: * Weeding: We were pulling weeds to ensure the outdoor play spaces remain clear and tidy for the little ones. * Litter Picking: We were scouring the grounds to make sure no stray trash was left behind. * Toy Scrub Down: Armed with sponges, soapy water, and sheer willpower, we washed down everything from mini slides to mud kitchens. The mud kitchens are now officially ready for their next mud pie creation!

A massive thank you to Kelly for hosting us and guiding the effort. We look forward to visiting the play centre again!