GoodGym Bristol welcomed two new members to the band this week - Dereck and Gareth joining the runners over to Marlborough Steps to shift a lot of pesky leaves into the new compost bin (which we didn't find until just after I had messaged Mel in Canada for its location! :-). Dereck jumped straight in to litter picking, before commenting on how little litter there is in Bristol (because we're so good at picking it all up!) Gareth was a leaf collecting machine and even though he's a member of Southville Running Club (our not-very-bitter-at-all rivals), we won't hold it against him and gope to see him on Tuesday Group Runs! Richard made a lovely leaf kebab, Jason chipped in with his usual surprise asides when you're not expecting him (nobody expects the Bristol inquisition!) whilst Frances decided the pun had to have something to do with the 90's chart toppers Steps, but i know less about steps than i know about that guy who was in that thing with what's her name! (that was the majority of the conversation in workout, post-run)

A bank holiday sounded like the perfect opportunity to check in on the Marlborough Steps planting after a pretty soggy couple of weeks. It turned out the plants were dry but the water butts were full!

Just as we were finishing up we met up with Jana and had a lovely catch up having helped out the plants, too.

Yet another soggy Tuesday but more brave GoodGymmers amassed to take on the leaf fall at Marlborough Hill with the beautiful murals.

We've been helping out the BID team since it was first painted, ironically we've been watering the new plants through the summer. No need for watering today!

It was great to be joined by Laura and Ed for their first good deed - it's honestly never normally that soggy!

We started with one rake and just four bags to move the mountain of leaves up the mountain of a hill to the compost area - Alice sensibly stayed at the bottom of the hill and amassed 4.2km and 37m of elevation whilst Vaguely Northern Darren had 5km and 146m of elevation - one and a half times as much elevation as Ashton Court parkrun.

Melanie set about finding more bags - Tesco Express was closed for a refurb but a lovely cleaner called Andrea was at the Eye Hospital and gave us a little roll of black bags that meant we had six extra very thin black bags to fill and transport leaves up the mountain. The twigs that we were separating from the leaves were soon re-purposed as "nature's broom" as if it were Hallowe'en.

The rain got heavier and heavier, as did the prose accompanying the atmospheric photos in the WhatsApp chat when we'd all got back into the warmth of Workout or home to dry off. Surely it cant be this wet again next week?

Since there has been a lack of rain lately, this task felt extra important today. Sadly some of the beds were looking a lot less spritely.

Thanks to the hammering building works, we had great motivation to hurry up with the first few beds. We quickly watered all of the beds and then headed back to work to get out of the heat ourselves! Good luck planters, until next time!

It was lovely to meet Natasha today on their first community mission with Goodgym! Note to self to change the map and address on the listing as the location is not easy to find... Luckily Natasha was wearing some very bright leggings so Jason and I gave her a big wave as we saw her coming over the horizon. Once the team was assembled we got to work filling our watering cans and giving the plants a much needed drink. We also had a tour of all the taps around the Marlborough steps which was a real thrill.

Shree and I met and watered the very thirsty plants living around the Marlborough steps. It's so lovely to get out on our lunch break and get in a good deed in the sunshine. We go to water the plants every other Wednesday - come and join us!