We hadn't expected to have to run the gauntlet to get to the city centre but a HUGE St Patrick's Day crowd had decided to party on King Street and Welsh Back (re-named Irish Back for the evening?) - who could blame them at the end of a rare blue sky and sun-filled day?

We fared (see what I did there?) better than the taxis trying to drive the roads and muscled our way through to cross the city centre to Brunswick Cemetery where more golden gravel was waiting to be exposed to the moon/sunlight once again.

Armed with forks and rubble bags, we were soon working on one of the normal paths before diverting onto the thick moss carpet in front of the old mortuary building - rich pickings for the supple of rubble bags and soon green carpet was becoming green waste ready for the Council to pick up.

It was great having Jo along for her second Tuesday but already third good deed as she joined the Northern Slopes task at the weekend.

The runners (Richard B, Richard G and Caroline were outnumbered by the walkers this week. Jason recovering from his first half-marathon at the weekend, Helen back from her travels , Ed showing off yet another volunteer kit top, Melanie pretending once again she knew what was going on and Jo - its lovely to have a balance of walker and runners, even better when the walkers just tip the balance!

After filling all the available bags, it was back to the mayhem of the St Patrick's Day crowds and on to Workout for pots of tea and a pint of Guinness, which is apparently the perfect pairing for chocolate cake.

We're heading the other way next week but hopefully the crowds will be long gone by then!

P.S. Ive written this report without reading glasses so please make corrections if you have edit access!

We trusted the weather forecast to be wrong and wrong it was - a break in the light rain made for optimum weather to clear moss from the paths though not the grass from the beds.

it was lovely to be joined by Joannafor her first GoodGym task - lovely to meet you and have your help and company.

Joanna joined the walkers whilst the runners disappeared out of sight, skilfully led by Richard Band back marked by Caroline whilst Vaguely Northern Darren did a bit of walk leading but started to deviate into the longer running route instead of the direct walking route so back-marked instead. Jason was resting his legs before his first half-marathon event on Sunday - good luck with the Bath Half, locally known as Running the Bath. And Edhas a volunteering place at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow so we're already speculating in the kit hell be getting - presumably waterproof as its a UK games...

The runners were already deep into the flower bed when the walkers arrived, grateful that David had volunteered to carry a couple of our work lights on his last GoodGym session before travelling on a yoga skills exchange for a fee months - what an adventure!

After a hit of grass re-laying on the tracks left by a vehicle, we moved to the far path for some very satisfying mass-moss clearance with Richard G, Roddy and Caroline filling each others' blue rubble bags at speed with Becky making everything look super tidy before we headed back to Workout for tea and cake. And then it started raining [insert smug face here]

A beautiful evening for a run/walk to a new task beneficiary - well, new for Tuesday evenings, it's one we've been visiting on the last few Sundays.

The Green House is owned by the Council but they'd had to pretty-much abandon the building due to costs. It's an eco-friendly, green-roof wooden building that's now leased to Xquisite Spaces who have big plans for community events as well as renting out the studio and other indoor space. They've spent the winter repairing the inside (including rotten wooden floor and many leaking pipes) and for Spring have turned to the outside space which had become incredibly overgrown.

Also part of the lease are six parking spaces and hedge line, two of which have been used as a dumping ground for building waste and the holly bushes have thrived on neglect. This bodes well for the future, just with a little more taming!

Lifting, shifting and brutal cutting back are GoodGym Bristol key skills and over 60 minutes the unloved-looking spaces were transformed into actual parking/utility spaces with plants that can thrive and years of leaf mulch skillfully chucked under the bottom of the hedging plants/trees. Lots of very old litter was also pulled out of the now-quite-a-lot-thinner holly and sorted for recycling or actual litter and the green waster was added to the pile for collection.

Then the rocks - from the builders' rubble dump, lots of bits of tarmac, concrete and a few bricks to lift and shift, some braving heaving lifts with spades (newly acquired by Lou from Xquisite Spaces from a second-hand tool search), others grabbing handfuls and the system leading to the Rock-Queue - thank to Frances for the pun, I'm sure Jason is jealous it wasn't him but pretty confident he'll find ways to get it into conversation over the next week or so.

Having wowed Lou with our ability to get weird things done whilst having a good time, we were off to Workout or, for those feeling a bit peckish, Rosa's Thai for our monthly Eats - a local eatery that doesn't mind a group of sweaty runners turning up for a quick bite and a lot more chat. Possibly the speediest service we've ever had, and NO RAIN AT ALL - more of this, please!

We couldn’t go to Sparks but we could celebrate an evening of NO RAIN by getting out and making our streets sparkling, or at least litter-free.

Runners set off for the Malago Greenway to help the watercourse and the walkers strides away to the edges of the City Farm (Friday morning Community Mission venue) to tackle the litter-catching hedges then along by the very swanky looking new student accommodation which seems to be by a culvert none of us have ever seen before.

As well as hauls recycling (clear bags) and litter (green bags) the walkers added a pair of boots, a pair of very soggy trainers and a sodden hoodie/hoody (?) and a shopping trolley which was duly returned to ASDAs/ASDAl and discussion ensued about Sainsburgs.

Everyone regrouped at Workout for pots of tea and an egg incident. Just your standard Tuesday evening

Who'd've thought wed have such a dry evening after torrential rain through the day?

The master plan of re-turfing (well, patchwork grassing) the damage recently caused at Brunswick Cemetery was looking doubtful but we were soon re-purposing the grass growing where it shouldn't to the bare soil where it should be growing. All a bit mucky, and trying to leave the battered shrubs to fill the gaps, there was plenty of hamstring and quad work to bend and straighten before re-laying the grass, beautifully lit by fellow GoodGymmers.

With may-a-strange look from passersby, a few did stop and chat, amazed at the idea of re-use.

Having avoided any rain at all, we packed up and, quitting while we were ahead, running and walking back to Workout before heading to Pieminister for the beat pies on a rainy gloomy day and more lovely chat - making our own sunshine.

We have made so much difference to the winter view of the Burial Ground - lots of the previously-hidden gravestones can now be seen as soon as you enter the green space as the bramble forest has been cut to just a few inches - now to see what happens in Spring...

We were joined by Jen for the first time, a recruit from Greville Smyth junior parkrun volunteering, who quickly joined in the chopping mission to find the ground as well as the gravestones. Operation Find The Wall is now underway, having successfully cleared all the way to the far path.

Soundtrack for the evening was mostly experiences of volunteering at Glastonbury (trying to stop festival-goers contaminating the watercourses by encouraging them to use the provided loos) to childhood experiences of being blamed for things which a sibling had done, including sibling's graffiti-ing walls or windowsills in a less-than-sophisticated way. But also times the GoodGymmer had been the sibling causing the mischief...

Lots of chat and lots of chopping, Richard B as ever getting as much done in their Solo spot as the rest of us put together. The Whirling Dervish of Bristol GoodGym.

Time to pack up and move out, Vaguely Northern Darren went back to look for Melanie's missing non-gardening glove which was mysteriously found under the now quite soggy lights in her bag - if only there was a light on whilst putting the lights in the bag...

The rain and chill had lessened considerably for the journey back and we were lulled into a fall sense of dryness and warmth at Workout as we enjoyed our post-run/walk tea, hot chocolate, chai or pint. Until we were putting soggy hats, gloves and jackets back on. Roll on the bramble-growth of Spring but also warmer rain!