On yet another hot and sweaty night, 8 Goodgymers ran, cycled and walked to Cwtch together to help out. There was plenty of tasks to get on with, inside and out, so we got cracking straight away.

Welcome Matthew to the Goodgym crew. Thanks for attending your first GG task, hopefully we will see you again soon.

Inside the hall, Matthew and Dylan S were clearing out and cleaning the kitchen whilst Rosie and Dylan V were mopping the main hall area. Initially Rosie and Dylan did kick off with their patented 'dry mopping technique'! So eager to start and do good they were working away without any water or cleaning product! ;o)

Emily, Darren and Jen set about the front garden, clearing any nettles and weeds from the play area and the perimeter, as well as mowing the lawn. Michael attacked the overgrown back area with a strimmer, check out the before and after to see the difference! Impressive stuff.

At the end of the task we were rewarded with some ice cold cans of water! They may look like beer or an energy drink but we can assure you it was water! We had a play with the hula hoop before some photos and bidding farewell for another week.

We got back to the pub where Leon had kindly reserved us a table to watch the Spain v France WC semi final.

On a glorious day in the sunshine, goodgymers got together for the long overdue task of Orchard watering..

The community orchard in Bute park was in need of a good slosh o' water. After heatwave after heatwave, those trees were rattling the fences for us to come in.

Due to all of the events in the parks recently.... The orchard had to be fenced off for its own safety. This had meant a cancelled water session last time, but no more. Finally as the people of Cardiff get their parks back, goodgym can get to the orchard.

We met at Glassworks as usual, and welcomed our first timer Darcey..

CROESO

We set off on our run, a light jog due to the heat.. A slight detour due to the get out for the events crew as they disassembled the monstrosity of the stage and walls, but we made it to the orchard gates. Our organiser, Mel messaged to say she was running a little late so we got comfortable in the shade relaxing after our run.

David decided to try to break the code for the gate lock, but with no success.

As Mel arrived, on her bike with 2 water browsers and a watering can (Michael had run with 2 from his allotment), it was time to get into the orchard to get volunteering.

There are over 60 trees in the orchard, so our task was a big one tonight, the plan of action was simple....

• fill up the 2 browsers (60 litres each)
• decant water to the cans
• give each tree 1 FULL can of water

We rotated, giving everyone time for a different workout. Running back and forth to fill up the browsers, they were quite a workout on their own once full, but fun to roll. Lifting and pouring the water into the watering cans, a great upper body workout. And last, but by no means least, running to water the trees.

We were even lucky enough to see a green spotted woodpecker, but not in time for Jonathan to get it on the merlin app.... Maybe next time...

Speaking of which, we will return in 2 weeks for another watering session as we head into a big ol heatwave....

Join us won't you.....

Sign up here

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.

On a run-derful Tuesday evening, 8 Goodgymers ran, walked and cycled to Global Gardens to work in the kids area of the allotment.

Chloe joined for her first Goodgym group task - welcome! Hopefully we will see you again soon at a task and/or social. There was also a welcome return to Lew who has vowed to come back to more group runs, I think mainly for the pub mind! ;o)

We split into to groups for the task to make the most of the space. Darren, Chloe, Flo and Su spent time clearing the seating area and climbing frame of any weeds and overgrowth. We got to hear all about Flo's amazing effort completing the VOGUM ultra in testing conditions on the weekend. Well done again Flo.

Rewind the years

Lew, Dylan, and Dylan dug out a cordoned off patch to be ready for planting. If you look through the pictures they managed to dig deep and find some interesting items from the earth:

• A full bottle of Stella Artois!
• A cassette tape by Youssou N'Dour - this only took 7 seconds to find! ;o)
• A handwash bottle
• A big old stubborn root

The before and after pictures show what a big difference was made in just 40 minutes!

After disposing all the weeds into the compost pile we headed off - some headed home and some headed to the open mic night at the pub.

Strim strim fully
Strim strim fully
We strim for me
No matter the weather
We’ll help you, you see

Strim strim fully
Strim strim fully
We strim for you
And once we have met
We shall come back it’s true.

Right, that's enough of that...

4 GoodGymers walked on an extremely hot day, 32.9 degrees...

Thankfully the task was a bit more in shade, as we tackled the garden space at Cwtch Together. The usual "lords and ladies" were appearing, they can be toxic so we had to get them dug up and binned.

We also went on tidy up duty, as we strimmed and mowed so that the garden could be used by the young people during half term.

Hot work, and a welcome cold drink before photos and the hot walk back.