9 Goodgymers braved the rain this eve to help out at the Food Union allotments. After it had chucked it down all day we were actually quite lucky and only really had to put up with a light drizzle for some of the session.

We welcomed Mohammad tonight and had the pleasure of Dale, Chloe and Dani returning to join in on another good deed :)

With us all running tonight we ran as a group to the allotments, looping back as and when we needed to and we met Jackie and Mohammed at the task. Greg let us in and explained the job in hand, he was a bit unsure if we were going to get it done in the time but we were well up for giving it a good go. Tools at the ready, everyone got cracking and with the help of Greg and Mark we got it cleared in no time. It was a fairly tight space for 11 of us to be working with sharp tools but you all managed it really well, fab work you lot! At the end, we enjoyed the fruits of our labour by trying out the plums on the plum tree above the space we cleared, loving all the free food recently.

The space can now be used for storage and to add logs for another little area for wildlife to thrive.

Hope you approve of the before and after photo's 😉 Dani

A lovely morning spent picking and chopping back blackberry bushes.

The allotment is looking so beautiful and full right now!

Esther is so knowledgeable and is always teaching us new things. Jackie discovered that a tall looking plant in her garden is actually a Jerusalem artichoke and Laura went home with a bag full of produce including to blackberries, apples, courgettes and tomatoes, winner!

Instead of our normal group run on a Tuesday, we met at the task to complete a community mission. 8 enthusiastic GoodGymers came together to cut back weeds at an overgrown play area in the woods nearby Charter Academy school, determined to try and make a difference for the children living in the local area.

On arrival of the area we discovered a trolley, a disregarded pram, a pair of curtains and a dead rat, delightful! Laura promptly reported the fly tipping to the council whilst the rest of us attacked the weeds covering the wooden posts.

Using our secateurs and shears, bought from home and borrowed from the Food Unions tool bank, we chopped back the branches and weeds to reveal a balancing post and a wooden spiral. It was like a little secret garden and behind it the was a path which led over to the new park area, plus some apple trees that you wouldn't be able to reach with all the weeds there. Louise had bought her litter picker so she managed to pick up some of the litter around the area too. We made great progress but decided not to tackle the bramble bushes in the centre of the spiral without a strimmer.

Graeme got in touch with Councillor Marcus Lapsa afterwards who said what great work we had done. He said the area was originally set up when he was play champion for Coventry City and he was trying to promote more natural outdoor play. Thank you to Greame who bought the task to GoodGym's attention and thanks to everyone who came, you did a grand job!