A heavy rain forecast didn't put off 6 dedicated Goodgymers to help Woodcroft Community Orchard.

We pitch forked and barrowed mulch; a covering of compost, spread on the ground around plants to prevent excessive evaporation or erosion, enrich the soil, inhibit weed growth

Fi gathered the rotten apples to compost and also found a cute grasshopper and frog! Martha found a golden worm amongst the compost which she did her best not to harm.

Luckily the weather wasn't as bad as the forecast and it was a productive hour. We had a good chat too.

"5 GoodGymmers went to mow, went to mow a meadow"! Well, not quite, but we certainly got stuck in helping tidy up afterwards! From the four corners of Bristol we ran or cycled to Woodcroft Community Orchard, it's seems an age since we'd been there last! The volunteers had been busy all morning with scythes, so there was lots for us to do. Fi, Sarah and Nathalie mulched trees and gathered grass cuttings, trundling multiple wheelbarrow loads of grass to the compost corner where Matt and Julie pitchforked the ever-growing piles to the composter boxes, making an organic layer cake of mulch and grass. By the end of an hour 2 boxes were full and all that remained was to take the "after" photos (I forgot "before"!) and for Nathalie to demonstrate her "grass angel" skills. Well done all!

At the Woodcroft Community Orchard, we picked up where we had left off last time with helping them to dig a new pond. Other runners also slashed back brambles, weeded beds, and built a hedge using some fun-looking mini machetes. One of the pond’s future inhabitants was spotted hopping around and the orchard’s resident doggies regularly made the rounds to inspect our work and sometimes barked orders!

It was amazing to have such a large turnout today for our first run back of the year - 2020 is here! Big welcome to Louise, James, Daniel, Luke, Jess, Nida, Sian, Miriam, Rob, Robin, Caron and Alice - WOW. They were joined by a huge bunch of our regular faces. We got warmed up at Mud Dock and then split into two groups, The Labradors and The Greyhounds (casual ones though). [Alison] led the Labradors with [Alice] back-marking while Chris back-marked The Greyhounds. Thank you guys!

It was a 5km run to the task which included a hefty hill and a bit of muddy trail running to finish it off. We were welcomed by Andy and his crew of helpers who split us between three tasks: clearing the hedge for hedgelaying, digging a one metre pond and turning the compost to mulch the trees. As we had such a wonderfully huge group, we split into two teams and each lucky group got half of their time doing a fitness session of stair reps, sprints, squats and lunges then swapped in to finish the jobs. The Labradors even got FOUR actual labradors coming to witness their session! After 45 minutes, the jobs were done and tools were cleared up and we were ready to run (the thankfully downhill) 5km back.

It was great to see you all and we are looking forward to lots more 2020 good deeds!

We returned to Woodcroft Community Orchard to help dig a pond, weed and mulch around some cider apple trees, and dig a few more holes for trees.

Hannah joined us for her first ever GoodGym run (Paulina might win a GG jumper for it- https://www.goodgym.com/stories/brave-the-cold) and she picked one of the longer, hillier, and muddier tasks. Liam dug himself into a hole, literally, not verbally. We were helped by two little girls, the intrepid dog Flo, and their imaginary horse.

We will be returning in the first week of January. Make sure to get your Strava/Runkeeper synced up with your GoodGym account so the miles count for our January Challenge.

We had a nice run to St. Anne's to help our friends at Woodcroft Community Orchard.

The November cold and rain didn't stop our intrepid runners getting to grips with compost turning, mulching and digging holes for baby fruit trees.

Thanks to everyone who joined us, and well done to Katherine on your first run with us. Come back soon!