This evening was our final visit to the Meadow Lane playground for 2026. With planting due to take place on Sunday we were in a tight deadline to get compost and ballast moved to prepare the beds.

This was one of those tasks that really put the Gym into Goodgym. We dug out one bed and topped it up with rich (and rather smelly) mushroom compost. The rest of the time was spent filling a fleet of wheelbartows with ballast and ferrying them to other planting areas. Core muscles were engaged, raking was done and we even had to deploy the mini flood lights. The result did make us look a little like were creating or investigating crime scenes.....!!

Our rewards was some gorgeous feedback from Usha and delicious brownies from Celestia which contained black beans, making them a health food.

Congratulations to Angus for your 100th Good Deed!!

We ticked another letter off our parkrun alphabet!

Henry completed his first parkrun this year and Bethan NEARLY went sub 30.

An excellent way to start a Saturday!

This evening we were back at the Meadow Lane playground. It has been so fun and rewarding to be involved in this project! From removing acres of ivy and brambles and unpicking dangerous metal fencing to digging new flower beds and building dens, no task has been left untried by our gaggle of Goodgymers.

Today we made some more progress on the flower bed designs - removing a few pesky roots and then shoveling and spreading loads and LOADS of ballast. A true shoulder and core workout!

We will be back next week for more digging and spreading so that some hardy plants can take root before the winter.

When you absolutely must have the front end of your village hall looking pretty for your Afternoon Tea event, that's when you call in Goodgym. As everybody knows, Goodgym will do anything if free cake is involved, and that's why Vicky, Joe, Muireann and myself were there this morning to weed the overgrown areas around the building, and refresh the big flowerpots along the drive.

We all did a lovely job with the flowerpots - each one now has fresh compost, a young shrub in the middle - 1 rosemary, 1 sage and 1 lavender - each one surrounded by pansies. We also had to transfer some of the old geraniums from one of the big pots into smaller pots to be move to a new home. We think they survived the process... we think.

Next we pulled out all the weeds that had taken over the grow boxes and were spreading into the car park. Because Nature likes to mess with our minds, the great big weeds came out very easily and the little tiny ones were very hard work to pick out of the gravel one by one.

But we were well compensated for our efforts with delicious cake! After the task the Hall volunteers Claire and June provided us with tea, coffee, and yummy flapjack, brownies and ginger cake. And Goodgym are always ready for cake.

The evenings are drawing in and this was probably our last natural light Wednesday session of the year. We were back at The Children's Allotment to do battle with the longest, fiercest, thorniest brambles I've ever seen. Before the onslaught, we warmed up by moving a few years' worth of accumulated rubbish into a skip; this part of the task was accomplished quickly.

The brambles, not so much. Long, thick, scratchy, entangled in the trees and other "good" vegetation. Our best efforts made some headway but they will no doubt regroup ready for our next battle in the Spring.

After a group snap in the yurt we celebrated the end of a great summer of GoodGymming with a drink in The Magdalen Arms.

Tonight we returned to Ovada, which is a non-profit arts organisation with a gallery, studios and education space.

The GoodGym team helped to clear their outdoor space, including the car park. Together we took on tasks like litter picking, sweeping, raking, weeding, and pruning. We could really see the difference after the task, creating a much clearer space!

A particular highlight of the evening was a young passerby spotting a mannequin outside Ovada, and deciding they really wanted it. After checking in with us and the Ovada team that it was OK, we were entertained watching him cycle away with a large mannequin (named Quentin) tucked under his arm!

The lovely team at Ovada even offered us an amazing meal to enjoy with them afterwards. Thank you Ovada!