5 GoodGymers met in town on a surprisingly pleasant May evening and removed old plants from the towers by the bus station. Following weeks of no rain the soil was dried solid, but we found it quite therapeutic breaking it up over a good chinwag.

Before long the boxes were free from plants, weeds and litter, and full of soft soil ready for a team of volunteer gardeners to come in and plant up new flowers.

We will be repeating this task along the High Street on the 2nd June, ready for more new planting the following day. Sign up if you can help out as with 10 large boxes spread out it will be useful to have a big group!

6 GoodGymers plus Pam completed a day's work in one hour at the allotment. We pruned, strimmed, weeded, planted, munched, watered and more, very quickly leaving Colchester in Bloom's allotment in a much better shape.

With spring hitting, it is a busy time in the gardening world and so we will be back in two weeks to help out again.

Oh and the run title....I'm trying to get to grips with What Three Words to help new GoodGymers find us more easily, and this is the location of the shed at the allotment!

4 GoodGymers met with 4 Colchester in Bloom volunteers to add some spring colour to the planters in town.

We were tasked with removing litter and weeds, then adding some new flowers into the boxes at the top of the high street, so be sure to admire them next time you go past.

After a conversation about mine, and AI's inability to come up with puns, and also whether Jonny Cash sang a version of The Gambler (he did) I'm afraid the title is the best I could come up with!

We noted the large amount of litter around the high street while doing the planting and so next week's task is to help remove some of it around town. Sign up to help us if you can!

2 GoodGymers met Pam from Colchester in Bloom to help tidy up the planters along the high street. Despite our best efforts to change the soil and remove weeds in the autumn, some resilient weeds had come back with a vengeance and took a lot of effort to detangle their roots from the plants. There was also the usual litter from people mistaking the planters for ash trays/gum bins, but after an hour's hard work removing litter, dead heads and weeds the planters were in a much better shape to welcome in the new growth spring brings!

Sorting the planters in town is always a great opportunity for a chinwag with Pam/fellow GoodGymers, and to be entertained by the random comments of passerbys (asking whether we're digging up buried treasure seems to be a common one!).

All in all, a successful evening!

5 GoodGymers met Pam and a couple of other volunteers from Colchester in Bloom to empty the planters on the high street, ready for them to be filled with beautiful new plants later this week.

We removed the plants, dug about to remove any remaining roots, emptied some of the soil to make room for some new, cleared up the mess, removed any litter and loaded Pam's car. All while having a good catch up and accepting compliments and gratitude from the passing public.

If anyone is able to help them, Colchester in Bloom will be meeting at the town hall at 10 this Friday morning to put in the new plants.

5 GoodGymers met at the Mercury Theatre and headed down the hill to Middleborough (no S, despite autocorrect's best attempts) to meet Pam and some gardening tools.

The garden around the old drinking fountain had become overgrown, the paving area with many slip hazards and a fair bit of litter around the place.

We quickly set to work pulling weeds, trimming plants, removing moss from the paving, picking up litter and moving dead leaves (but not too many - a friendly passerby stopped to remind us that hedgehogs love the fallen leaves). It was amazing how quickly the area looked much smarter.

We then attempted a bit of night time photography before heading up the hill to return the tools to Pam's house.

Lovely evening with you all, I thought it was fun despite what Ray's facial expression may suggest....