We quickly split into two teams to get the job done - the shovelers and the forkers! Shovelers were tasked with loading the wheelbarrows with compost and then transferring it to the beds. With a perfected wheelbarrow wiggle the compost was deposited expertly ready for spreading. Forkers then got to work turning over the soil and incorporating the new compost. With the music pumping, we managed to clear a whole compost bay and get the beds ready for the farm volunteers to plant the Elephant garlic. We look forward to seeing that when it’s grown!

We were initially a bit worried as the gardener had made a surprise visit to the planned community garden over the weekend and cleared a lot of the weeds we were there to tackle! However, after a great "Too weed or not to weed" briefing from the wonderful Gill we had plenty to be getting on with. There was lots of digging deep to get all the Demogorgons out (or roots as some people might term them!). There was also some reaching high for Wilson and Helen to get the brambles out of the tree. We were hoping for some rare artefact finds with all the digging and were not let down with a tiny pink plastic rocking horse and a racing pigeon ring! It was great we welcomed James from Energise Me to his first session this evening. He was a great addition to the team, digging right in! We hope you can join us again soon.

7 GoodGymers visited Holy Saviour Church for the first time to help with weeding and trimming the hedges. After some initial confusion about why we didn’t have lawnmowers with us (Wilson and I just didn’t think we’d manage running lawn mowers up the very big hill to get there!) we were set to work with the tools available. Around the church building was weeded, and we trimmed back some tricky brambles and holly in the hedge while being careful not to disturb the wildlife. The brambles required some epic teamwork to chop them down. We also managed to clear bonus brambles from the cut-way next to the church to make it a much less prickly approach for pedestrians!

Well done to Hannah who managed to fit in double volunteering this evening, donning her first responder hat (we hope there’s a hat!) as soon as the task had finished. We also loved welcoming Vicky and Janine this evening for their first GoodGym tasks. We hope they will join us again soon. Janine already volunteers at the church so was a super hostess providing us with some refreshing drinks to finish. We hope to be back again soon to help out the church with their many community projects.

We said our goodbyes, then Wilson and I set off for our run back with an added bonus of mosaic spotting along the way. I didn’t know about these mosaics hidden all over Southampton and can’t wait to find some more on our runs and walks.

We were delighted to return to Aldermoor Community Farm for our 10th official task this evening. We can't believe its been over 3 months since we had our very first meeting of GoodGym curious Southamptoners at Aldermoor. We couldn't believe last time we were there we were shifting compost in our winter gear and racing to finish in daylight!

We were excited to welcome Lucy to her very first task and hope to see her again soon. It was also great to welcome back Amanda . Today Richard had some different tasks to help with which included cutting back the hedgerow to develop a clearer path, and rescuing an apple tree and the raspberries from the brambles and bindweed. Helen and Amanda rescued the apple tree while being careful to protect the tiny frogs that had set up home there. Sara and Hannah worked their way round clearing around the raspberries, picking the ripe ones as they went. Once finished we made short work of eating the ripe raspberries with Richard's encouragement of course! The rest us tidied up the hedges with instructions to sort the spiky trees from the non spiky trees, all ready for composting. We were all pretty skilled at sorting using those categories! Before we knew it the wheelbarrows were full and it was time to head off, but not before we got our next visit planned in.

Lauren led another fab run this evening to and from the task. It was also brilliant to see our pedal powered GoodGymers tonight - Wilson, Amanda, Hannah. You don't have to be a runner to come and join us. Walkers and cyclists will always be welcome too.