Another hot hot evening for the goodgymers of Cardiff. We welcomed our first timer to the mix....

CROESO

Welcome Abdullah, we are very pleased to have you on a task with us tonight.

It was a mixed group of joggers, walkers and cyclists for the journey, but all on the same route direct through the beautiful park and up to the cricket ground changing rooms. The only tap, and in direct sunshine....

So to our task for the evening, to fill the four bowsers (40 litres in each), run them 300m to the Orchard, empty the water into watering cans (some heavy lifting required), rinse and repeat.........

We were also joined by some of the orchard volunteers, some helped us with the watering whilst others went off for some wild seed collecting - some yellow rattle had been spotted so they were on the job to collect as much as possible for use at the orchard this winter to help us keep some of the grass under control so that our wildflower meadows could be expanded.

First job was at the tap where we all gathered, we filled the four bowsers and 6 watering cans and made our way to the Orchard. There were a few water works, some unfortunate drips and a moistened short crotch (sorry Jonathan).....thankfully it's hot enough to dry off fast!

Before we even got started there was time to stop and watch a cluster of dragonflies that were feeding at the orchard, just ask Michael he has a lot of videos of them....

Time to get tasking

Abdullah, Jonathan, Rosie, Darcey & Dylan were all on can duty, and what beautiful cans they were.

Aaron, Michael & Nathan were on bowser patrol, along with one of the orchard volunteers and even the lovely Mel that leads the orchard. In total it was 7 trips to the tap for each bowser = 2.1 km each. Add on the 40 kg of water for each of the 4 trips full, and thats an impressive 160 kg of weight per bowser....

What a workout!

In total we went through 610 litres of water, helping to keep our trees going, which in turn is having an amazing effect on the wildlife in the area. We have seen a noticeable increase in butterflies, moths, and bees. We have had green woodpeckers nesting, seen many a dragonfly and the occasional Jay and Tawny Owl.

It's such a pleasure to see the Community Orchard get stronger and bigger every year.

It was a split group tonight, half meeting at the task and half jogging in the heat.

Even with a few late night's of rain, it still hadn't been enough to penetrate the earth and keep things green. So, goodgym gets to the cans again.

Tonight, we were heading to Global Gardens to volunteer our time and help to keep the space alive. Michael led the crew around the site showing them the different areas, a lot of which goodgym have been very involved with. The orchard, the forest school, the newly cleared children growing space and the general growing spaces for the volunteers and community.

There was certainly plenty to water, and a chance for lots of extra steps back and forth to the trough. We got out our watering cans, bowls, anything really that could hold water. Unfortunately the trough that we used wasn't filling all too quickly and it wasn't too long before we had managed to empty it.

A quick run around and we found a much better second trough, one that actually filled back up quicker. So our task resumed...

We managed to water parts of the orchard, the children's growing area, the pumpkin trellis, the general beds and even the tomato polytunnel.... We may have tried a pea or two... And the odd apple....

Thanks to a great crew tonight, we have helped again to keep those spaces of beauty in Cardiff to keep growing and thriving.

Join us next week, as we head to Cwtch Together.. See you there folks!

Our second successful task at the local community orchard in Cardiff.

Welcome to our first timers, Jenny and Mhairi.

CROESO

And back for more, on their second return task Darcey (and the orchard again.... do you have a favourite task already?).

Our groups tonight had walkers Michael, Jenny, Rosie, Dylan and Dylan.

Runners Mhairi, David, Darren, Darcey, Aaron and Emily.

And on the cycle..... Lew.

With very little rain in the recent months we needed to help out the trees in the orchard. With some only recently planted (this year), they are much more vulnerable to droughts.

Unfortunately other community spaces in Cathays and Bute Park have had 30-40% of their newly planted trees die this year due to drought conditions.

GoodGym are not going to let this happen to the orchard!

A great team effort watering a lot of trees. We had our extra workout rolling the bowsers to the tsp and back, then team spout got to the watering cans. We managed all the trees tonight, and then had a wildflower spotting session with the wonderful Bodge.

Quite an evening for our task, unfortunately everything changed at the last minute. We had to cancel our Orchard watering due to the event in Blackweir, for the first time.

It was a busy evening in Cardiff tonight, as we had Katy Perry in the castle and Lewis Capaldi in Blackweir Fields (just up the path)

Even with all of this activity, and last minute changes, we still met up and got out for some good. Our change had us running up to The Salvation Army Hostel for young people, with an option to work inside or out.... The weather was looking changeable...

Once we were all there, Michael took the crew inside to help carry out the items to build.

Our tasks, to build.....

• 3 Planters
• 1 Round garden picnic bench
• 5 large boxes to carry in total.

Let's go go go

We were split into 4 teams of two, 6 on the raised planters. The final 2 were to do as much as possible with the bench, but this wasn't going to be finished in one 30 minute session.

He weather stayed dry, so we stayed outside enjoying the evening air.

5.....4....3...2..1

Time's up, let's get the photo and head back. It was a great jog back, as thousands were descending on Cardiff for the night. We had cheers from the crowds as if we were part of a race.

Some of our weirder discussions on the way back, as acid reflux came up. The fact that there are 60 Sphincter muscles in the human body, and they control a lot more than you think.....

Thanks to everyone of you for coming out, see you again soon.