On a rainy, windy end to April a brave 3 goodgymers got together to help out the Forget me Not group. We had an emergency call out on Sunday from the organiser, asking if we could get together and help to clear up twigs and branches that had fallen and to weed the pathways between the raised beds. The pesky plants had made their home in the pathways, which was stopping the group members from being able to get in and use the raised beds.

We welcomed back to the group Cara for their second task, good to see you back with us. We had some wonderful new gloves and a brush tonight, and got straight to work. Dylan got to work brushing the pathways around the Church, helping to make it look clean in time for the local elections, before joining the rest in removing the unwanted plants.

There was some bindweed around one of the fruit trees which needed some careful attention, the path was weeded by simply pulling up the plants - it was a woodchip path so nice and easy to clear. And finally, some brambles were cleared from the edge, before they encroached too far.

30 minutes and were done, the "Forget me Not" gone

What a night that was as a good 12 of the goodgym crew arrived eager to help out at this week's task. The gang, made up of joggers, walkers and a cyclist meeting us directly there.....All are welcome.

We were back to our friends for the first time this year at St. Edwards this evening, to do work in the Church grounds in support of Forget Me Not Cafe and the Gardening as Therapy Project.

Our Tasks

• Stripping Christmas tree branches
• Scattering Clover Seeds

Our area activator Michael has recently started looking into rewilding spaces and as such managed to get quite a few different varieties of seeds to help biodiversity. Knowing of the project, we offered some up to Kathie who was very happy to accept as part of their wildflower meadow. Our scattering crew, lit for the evening by Emma, were Dylan and Emily.

Whilst the rest of the team got to work as choppers, chippers and snippers - getting the stump! It was short work on the task as we filled the green waste bags ready for the council to collect and took the stump around to the front of the building. The stump (in case you were wondering) is going to be repurposed inside the Church for an Easter Cross.

A quick tidy up and group photo and it was time to head back, where most of the group were heading off for bottomless pancakes.

Join us next week as we head over to Samye - sign up HERE

What a glorious day we had for our task today, with two start locations and some meeting us directly at the task is was a meandering route to volunteering.

Suns out - Funs out

Once we were all at meeting point 1 - Michael took the crew to the streets over to catch those waiting at meeting point 2. We picked up the two waiting there, and had a lovely unexpected quick catch up with another goodgym member - Martin.

Today's task was some gardening, Forget me Not have a lovely outside space that people quite often use and potter about it, but it's those troublesome tasks where we at GoodGym shine. In the grasses were some thorny brambles, so time to get rustling and cut them out, plus a couple of saplings to remove. Around the edges of the fence, on the public path and down the alley also needed a good prune. Some sweeping up of the dried up catkins and finally clearing around the sides of the building - all of the wild common mallow.

Did you know? The French word for mallow is 'mauve', which is where we get the word for the colour mauve from.

Malva sylvestris

common mallow

Common mallow is a handsome 'weed' of waste ground, roadside verges and gardens. Its deep pink, stripey flowers provide nectar for insects throughout the summer.

Species information Category - Wildflowers Statistics - Height: up to 1.5m Conservation status - Common.

When to see June to October

About Common mallow is a handsome, large, spreading plant with beautiful deep pink flowers that appear from June to October. It can be found on roadside verges, along footpaths and on waste ground. Certain parts of common mallow are edible (leaves, flowers and seeds) and there is evidence that the Romans may have deliberately cultivated the plant to be used for food and medicine.

How to identify Common mallow has pale mauve, funnel-like flowers with five open petals and deep purple stripes. Its leaves have five lobes and its stalks have hairs on them.

Distribution Found throughout the UK, but especially common in Wales and Southern England.

On the last Tuesday of January, and bidding farewell to the difficult month Goodgym Cardiff got together for a night of fun, run and BUN - Burger Bun.

15 gymers were ready for the challenge, with new faces to greet.

Croeso

Cleopatra was encouraged along to their first goodgym experience, thanks to Sarah Jane on their tourism trip from Richmond for the goodgym pitch.

You are both welcome back to the Cardiff division anytime

Also joining us for their first time was Dylan, welcome to the clan.

Goodgym were welcomed as ever by Kathie and made our way to the back gardens ready to cut back overgrowth and litter pick the area. But wait, the edge of the gardens has some friends popping up......as feet where everywhere we all shouted out to try to save the bulbs.

Mind the daffodils

We split into teams to tackle the various jobs this evening, sweeping up the moss that had fallen from the roof around the front of the building, cutting the brambles that were appearing underneath the tree, cutting off come ash stems that were coming out of the root stock of another tree. Two groups in on fence duties, cutting back any of the plants that were encroaching onto the public path areas and then a general litter pick of the grounds.

Busy as bees our 30 minutes were soon up and it was all looking rather lovely.

On our way back we entered the realm of strange conversations - as usual when Michael is around - tonight's topic was......

BANANAS

During the 1950s a virulent fungal pathogen wiped out the Gros Michel variety of banana, which was sweeter than our variety today. The Cavendish stepped into the space left by the disease, which is likely the banana that you eat today.

Imagine if the same thing happened now..... What would be in our bowls of cereal and our smoothies?

Just us next week and see what the conversation will be!!!

Now to celebrate the end of January, we all made our way for a social. Burger deals and a drink to see the night off.

It was our last visit to the wonderful folk at 'Forget me Not' to tackle the last part of the buddleia. We had not been able to complete it during our last visit, as it had grown to such new heights in all its glory.

A lovely short run from Big Moose in the City Centre to our second pick up at the Penylan Library for those wanting a shorter distance this week. From there it was a lovely trek through Roath Brook Gardens to the grounds of the Church.

We arrived a little early tonight, so plenty of time to catch up before getting to work. We were greeted by Kathie which was Michael's signal to get the group to work. We were determined to finish the task this week, with an added job of trimming back the overgrown hedges in the back lane.

As the (large) branches were removed the group got to cut them down further to fit in the garden waste bags. Our lights were extremely useful for tonight’s task during the dark nights.

At last, the task was complete, and it was time for a quick photo before heading out for a social.

A special task tonight, and we were going to make use of the pleasant weather with an outside task. We were heading to the Church of Saint Edward, home to the Forget me not club that we help.

A lovely 14 of us were jumping to help out, the job to clear, clean and prune ready for a special service later in the week. Some ran, some jog walked, some cycled too. And straight to work we got, all bushes and trees overhanging the fences were put back in check, and the biggest trial of the night was the buddleia.

But we are always prepared us goodgymer prune-ies

After a little longer than 30 minutes we were done and it was time to head back to the city.