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.

A beautiful autumn Saturday morning in Oxford and ideal for a spot of GoodGym gardening - mowing, weeding and tidying up the path. The 90 minutes passed quickly and I'd be happy to make a return visit.

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!