Last night we dodged floods and ice to head west for a Botley Road litter pick.

There are several trash hot spots around the area, so we try to do clean ups a few times a year along the Botley Road and into the Industrial Estate. Sure enough, all the usual areas were mucky and we could have ticked off almost all the Litter Bingo Card in the first few minutes. Coffee cups, fast food containers, snack wrappers, bottles, cans....all the litter pick fan favourites were found.

Less predictable were the homemade spear found in the supermarket car park (fortunately a tin foil blade!) and the negative pregnancy test; but if we weren't taken aback by something would it even be a GoodGym litter pick?!

Last night we did a litter pick x scavenger hunt mash up. We collected a load of litter from the streets of Oxford, got to explore a little, and had some mildly-competitive fun in the process.

The Teams:
* 7 runners
* 7 walkers

The rules:
* Teams must find at least 3 items from each category
* Must have photos to prove finds/locations
* GoodGymers may go anywhere within the ring road as long as the team sticks together and is back on time
* Teams must be back outside East Oxford Community Centre by 7:25pm
* Litter bags do not have to be brought back to base if there is an appropriate place to leave the full bags along the way

Category 1: Litter
* Alcohol bottle
* Face mask
* Fast food container
* Coffee cup
* Alcohol Can
* Plastic bag (dog poo bag allowed)
* Crisp packet
* Item of clothing (bonus points for underwear 🤢)
* Energy drink can
* Wet wipes
* Cutlery
* Very Random Item

Category 2: GoodGym task locations
* A point for every past task location visited

Category 3: Wild Cards
* Street with a fellow GoodGymer’s name in it
* Place with literary connections
* Blue plaque (extra point if it’s for a woman)
* Number 48 (we are the 48th GG area)
* Animal sculpture (can be knitted)
* Angel wings

The results:
* Runners: Category 1 11 points, Category 2 7 points, Category 3 7 points
* Walkers: Category 1 13 points, Category 2 6 points, Category 3 7 points

The walkers took the glory by 1 point!

Congratulations to Ben on reaching the 50 Good Deeds milestone!

This evening we ventured to Botley to blitz the inevitable litter hotspots that build up and hide under the autumn leaves

A slightly chaotic start due to gridlock traffic necessitated chats about the weather and crisp sandwiches (always a good idea).

Once all were present and correct the garland of joy was presented to our newest and most unofficial member Miss Penelope! Thank you Julia for bringing her to meet us all!

We set out lights and litter-pickers in hand to tackle a few grot spots and amassed a large mountain of bags before our time was up. Items found ranged from the depressing (sharps, dealt with safely) to joyous (£10 given to Ben to take to the Halloween quiz), and the inevitable pants!

You are all wonderful and apologies again for my late arrival and stressful witterings!

Welcome to Goodgym Anja and Steve, we hope to see you again soon!!