This week, GoodGymers Catherine, Daiana and Alan headed to Fox Den Allotment for an evening of gardening, wildlife spotting and plenty of hard work! 💪🏼

This was my first visit to Fox Den, and the 10th good deed with GoodGym! I was pleased to see the nice work done there and I could also learn a lot about gardening, plants, medical effects of the plants and how rich and diverse the environment can be! 🌳

Our first task was creating a hedgehog highway. 🦔 We cleared an area before carefully layering some logs, smaller branches, twigs and finally leafy cuttings on top to create the perfect habitat for our prickly visitors. Alan’s strength and speedy log-moving certainly made light work of the heaviest part of the job! 🪏

Following this first move, we turned our attention to preparing a bed that will become part of the site’s growing forest garden. We learned how these gardens become increasingly self-sustaining over time, with established fruit trees and bushes already thriving. After turning the soil into a rich, nutritious bed ready for planting, it will soon be home to raspberries, artichokes, strawberries and plenty of other perennial plants. 🌱

As if that wasn’t enough, we also shifted some hefty rubber sheets into place to cover borders that had been overtaken by weeds. The sheets will help suppress the weeds over the coming months, leaving the beds ready for even more planting later in the year.

There was plenty of wildlife to enjoy too! We spotted a tiny cricket, rescued a thirsty bee with a well-timed drink of water, and a ladybird seemed particularly fond of Alan’s T-shirt – a very fitting companion for the evening. 🦗🐞

A brilliant evening of teamwork, learning and getting stuck in. We can’t wait to see how Fox Den continues to grow over the coming seasons! ✨

The anticipation was high this morning as we made our way to Brook Leys parkrun.

People travel the length and breadth of the country to run this fast course, and the question this morning was whether it would be a PB for GoodGymer Scott who travelled all the way from Cambridge city centre.

Having run there, it wasn't looking good as despite the near perfect conditions, the legs weren't feeling it. After a photo and a pep talk, I wished Scott well, and then all I could do was wait. I lined up at the back for a walk around the lake before taking up my position as barcode scanner. Being a 2.5 lap course, Scott whizzed past on lap one with thumbs up. Was this a good sign?? I dared to hope.

The barcode scanning came as a welcome distraction. I scanned 100s of barcodes for finishers (including Scott's), so when it came to submit, I was a nervous wreck and extra careful to ensure the precious cargo of a result was safely logged.

He only went and did it!! 🥳 And smashing his previous record.

It's always special when consistent training pays off. With only a brief moment to celebrate, Scott got straight to sorting finishing tokens to walk away with a good deed alongside the PB.

Well done to Scott and all the other 315 finishers today! ⭐

Having, hopefully, slightly more relaxed mornings, Caroline was up running in Edinburgh and Harriet was jeffing in Fulbourn. Great work team! 🙌

We were back at SIN Cru this week, making the most of the continuing sunny weather! ☀️

Scott, Becky, Catherine and I met at Parkside Pool for a 3.5km group run to the task, taking it easy in the heat and stopping for plenty of water breaks 💧

Waiting for us and admiring our arrival (I believe Baywatch was referenced!) were Ilse and Sandra, who had joined by bike. After some mandatory dog-petting, we got stuck in: Becky, Sandra cleared an impressive amount of weeds, Ilse and I tried our best to paint a very uneven surface with very hard rollers, Catherine FINALLY cleared the wood chippings bag, and Scott once again showed off his impressive sawing skills 🪚

After some final pets, we set off as a team and strolled a fair way back together, sharing Percy Pigs and discussing Paul Chuckle. Somewhat reluctantly, the 4 runners eventually set off again, distracting ourselves with restaurant chat and plant-based dining 🍽

Great work again, team! 🙌