3 Goodgymers returned to Sydenham Drive in Leamington Spa to complete a litter pick.

We started the evening with a jog along the canal, taking in some of the beautiful murals along the route and catching up on each other's weeks including weekend runs, triathlons and the trials and tribulations of work.

Once we got to Sydenham Drive we started our pick and were surprised by how much litter there was. With the weather having been warmer over recent weeks there was evidence of some evening drinking under the trees along the edge of the Drive. Some more unusual finds included a sanding pad for an orbital sander and the old classic of a shopping trolley from nearby Asda.

We inadvertently ended up being a bit of a tourist attraction as a family who introduced themselves as visiting from India were curious to find out what we were doing and then asked to take photos of our group!

With our bags heavy with rubbish we returned to the start, dropped our bags ready for collection by Leam Trash Friends tomorrow and enjoyed a run back along the canal to the pump rooms.

Kudos to James who ran an additional 6km on top of our group run by running to and from the session from home - hope you made it back up the hill James :-)

3 Goodgymers supported Leam Trash Friends on their group run this evening with helping to keep the streets of Leamington rubbish free.

This evening after a quick warm up, we headed out on a nice run along the canal to Eagle Rec. We admired the amazing artwork that decorates the walls on the canal before heading to the Rec for some litter picking. We picked/plogged our way around the perimeter of the Rec whilst catching up on the week's news and discussing the pros and cons of electric vehicles. There was lots of the usual sorts of rubbish - cigarette butts, beer cans, crisp packets etc. We also found a 3 litre milk bottle, a belt and part of a fridge!

From there we returned back to the canal towpath and carried on a few bridges further to Sydenham Drive. From here we picked along Sydenham Drive to St Mary's Road and received words of encouragement from local residents kindly thanking us for helping to keep the area clean :-)

Having dropped the bags at an appropriate spot to be collected we then re-traced our steps back along the canal towpath before finishing our run with a few hills back to the Fat Pug - all good practise for the Regency 10k in just over a week!

So lovely to have a group run in the daylight for the first time this year - looking forward to future weeks when hopefully we will have a bit of sunshine too...

4 Goodgymers supported Leam Trash Friends and helped to clean up their local area by carrying out a litter pick around South Leamington.

After a quick warm up at the Fat Pug we headed out on our 1.5 mile run, taking in the full stretch of beautiful Victoria Park to the start location for tonight's pick along Queensway.

Starting at McDonald's we picked along the full length of Queensway on both sides of the road - mainly collecting food wrappers and bottles. It was a bit squelchy underfoot after the recent rain but thankfully stayed dry for us this evening. We had accidentally brought more rubbish sacks than planned but this was lucky as they were soon getting quite heavy to carry!

We collected 4 bags of rubbish in total and left these for Leam Trash Friends to kindly collect for us before heading back towards town on a slightly different run route that still included going back up Milverton Hill. Even after the hill everyone had a little bit left in the tank for a sprint finish back to the Fat Pug.

Another job well done and it was great catching up on everyone's news from the week including new jobs and cats!

Looking forward to next week when we'll hopefully be returning to the Kenilworth Centre to finish off the gardening task we started last week.

GoodGymers returned to the commyn after the seasonally good weather to clear the litter left from a few parties on the grass.

Becky also completed her 50th good deed by collecting approx 50 bags of dog poop left all over the place and David found the stash of Vodka, whilst michelles litter picker caused some issues being made for the left handed goodgymer. great to have Linda along for the first time in months...

Welcoming new member Kinga, four members turned up at Newbold Comyn to clear the litter.

On first look it appeared another group of Wombles had already been along and cleared the area on their way to London. But, deep among the woodland and mountain bike trails we found what appeared to be the remains of a Pool Party, lacking water. There were flamingo and watermelon inflatable cup holders, party poppers, some posh Prosecco and tons of lemonade including the pink variety. With a lot of scrambling and James bravely taking on the brambles we filled 4 bags to the brim.

It’s always a weird one litter picking, you don’t want to find rubbish as it means people don’t care but you also feel good helping clear it up and the scanning always feels a bit like a treasure hunt. We found the treasure trove today....

Message in a Bottle 3.14159265359 (it was very much a staggered start) Runners arrived ready to plog there way through the Newbold Common on a litter PI pick.

Messages were left (by dogs or owners?), alongside a bevvy of bottles of beer (some even unopened), and a very clear picture has been set-up on THE SHOCKING IMPACT OF LITTER IN THE UK near to the bike track.

We had a lot of "good effort" and "doffing of cycling helmets" to our clearance work from the fellow park users.