An unfortunate event can often result in a good outcome. We were sorry to hear about a break-in at the Oasis Hub community garden at the end of last week. Some kids had leapt the fence and caused trouble and mess by throwing things around, kicking things in and generally being a nuisance without a purpose. Luckily the culprits were caught on camera and were dragged back in to put right what they had undone but their actions had highlighted a need to do something with this underused space.

It just so happens that fellow GoodGymer Ruth is a volunteer at the Hub and so she knew just the team to come and help! There was a great response to the last minute call out with 7 of us arriving to give the gardens a tidy up including first timers Lisa and Andrew. Most of the team were sent into a dense thicket of brambles to begin chopping them down. The sound of snipping shears was interrupted by the occasional yelp as someone got pricked by the vicious undergrowth. Meanwhile the boys were set to task straightening out the kicked in shed, moving some heavy slabs and dragging broken pallets out of the bushes. Great progress was made with the plan to eventually turn the area into a wildlife garden that the local community can make use of and tend to. It will be a lovely addition to the area but there is still a fair bit of work to be done so we will be back soon to carry on cutting. Perhaps with better protective clothing!

Well done everyone for another fantastic GoodGym task!

A few years ago Worcester Environmental Group built a natural play area in a corner of Perdwiswell Park using a collection of interesting logs. With North Worcester Primary Academy nearby it was popular with the children to climb on before or after school. Unfortunately it has been left neglected with the nettles, thistles and undergrowth making it less than appealing to play on. Parent and councillor, Katie Collier asked if GoodGym could give it a good tidy up so of course we said yes!

It was a short run from Perdiswell Leisure Centre which suited most of the group who had tired legs from racing at the weekend. Armed with secateurs, loppers and gloves we cut and pulled our way through the weeds and soon the logs were emerging from the undergrowth and the whole area looked more presentable. The offcuts were gathered to form a dead hedge which will be popular with rodents, birds and invertebrates.

Once we'd finished, there was just one more important task: testing it! Ruth and I demonstrated our balancing skills by walking and jumping along the log run with the obligatory 'tree pose' to finish.

It should be a nice surprise for the children to find after school today.

It's a good sign that the reputation of GoodGym Worcester is gathering pace now that organisations are coming to me to ask if we can help without the need to search them out. That's exactly what happened with this week's task when an email arrived from Connor of the Wildlife Trust to ask if we could help with a wildlife garden project next to Ghulevelt Park. The fact that the project was for a cafe called Kyndfolk sealed the deal. Kyndfolk are exactly what GoodGymers are!

The now familiar path alongside Pitchcroft provide our pre-task run from the Hive then the 5 of us were greeted by Connor and Julie from the Wildlife Trust and the team from Kyndfolk. Gloves were issued along with warnings not to remove fingers with the secateurs then we were let loose in the brambles. The aim was to allow access to the garden area next to the cafe that had clearly been neglected for many years. Many pallets, various kitchen units, lots of litter and a huge heap of tangled undergrowth were quickly tamed by the combined GoodGym, Wildlife Trust and Kyndfolk crew. There will be a time lapse film of the work coming shortly but in 40 minutes the whole area was transformed and with all digits left intact!

Julie and Connor now have a blank canvas to start planning ponds, bog gardens and retreats for all creatures great and small. Seb from Kyndfolk explained that he hopes the area can be enjoyed by the local community including the nearby primary school and will make sure that an accesible path will be in place for wheels and feet to get around safely.

The famous five GoodGymers included Bertie and Ruth who clearly enjoyed last week so much they came back for more! A welcome return for Alison after a few weeks off and my sister Juliet was dragged along after carelessly planning a visit to Worcester on a Tuesday evening!

Thank you everyone for another great job completed!

It was a nice (and very familar for parkrunners) run round Pitchcroft racecourse to get to the Community Garden on Tuesday. We were there to build a flood garden but arrived to find another volunteer group had beaten us to it. The job was already done! Luckily the Community Garden is never short of jobs for people so we were quickly assigned some new tasks to keep us busy. It helps that Alison is a regular volunteer at the gardens so knew her way around and showed us the ropes, or in this case the chips! In front of us was a large pile of wood chips that was cluttering up the entrance to the wildlife garden and needed to be bagged up. Soon we had a fleet of wheelbarrows queued up and Kirsty, Fiona and Liam armed with shovels and ready to fill them up with the chips. Meanwhile Alison and Marcus were set to task cleaning up a bench in the wildlife garden and a kitchen sink unit that will be used...well we never found out what it was for! After 30 minutes of shovelling and scrubbing the whole place looked neat and tidy again with the chips in the bag and everything swept. We finished our lap of the racecourse to get back to The Hive and had definitely worked up an appetite for some chips of the potato variety!