*What do you do when the Met Office suggests a 95% chance of rain and you have a litter pick and outdoor pizza planned? *Answer: a speed litter-sweep, quick dip in the Thames (ok, that was only the spaniel) and head off in search of pizza under a roof.

Port meadow was surprisingly clean given our recent sunny spell (well done, Oxford!) but eagle Goodgym eyes still managed to retrieve a small haul of bottle tops, cigarette butts, miscellaneous pieces of plastic, a dirty sock and what looked like a false finger nail. Every little helps and hopefully a small but worthwhile contribution to keeping Port Meadow a beautiful place to relax on a nice summer's day. And we did get our pizza.

Welcome to Goodgym Alice!!

This evening, 11 GoodGymers returned to a task favourite: Marston Forest Garden. Fred, Muireann, and Ellie went running in the sun through Marston, briefly passing Wasabi (Ellie’s cat!) before joining the rest of the group.

We had a real assortment of tasks to take on. There was clearing with sickles and scythes, transporting compost, weeding (including clearing common hogweed and valerian), and topping up the pond with water as it had become dry. The group divided up and got to work, attempting to dodge the large amounts of bugs and ants that were enjoying the compost. Fortunately we got a briefing to help us identify the various weeds we were tackling.

A big congratulations to Mae who celebrated 10 good deeds this evening! As with all milestones, the garland of joy was worn to mark the occasion.

This evening we were officially paired with the garden at Meadow Ward on the Warneford Hospital site.

This garden offers a therapeutic and peaceful space for patients to enjoy and it needed a bit of TLC.

Armed with a variety of tools and some good old fashioned determination we set to work tackling weeds and invasive plants that had got all too comfortable within the flower beds. Comments of "is this intentional grass or weedy grass??" and "is this a pretty thistle or a pesky one?" could be heard and apps were consulted so we didn't uproot precious plants.

After an hour of focused activity we had filled 2 tonne bags, put the world to rights and somehow managed to dodge the rain!

Good work team! And welcome along Jenny, thank you so much for joining us!

OxGrow is a gorgeous community garden nestled in the Hogacre Eco Space. Access to said garden is over a VERRRRRY tall railway bridge. Any deliveries for the garden, and any bulky rubbish leaving the garden can only go one way, up and over the bridge.

Over the years we have carried woodchip, manure, a sofa and even a very delapidated organ over the bridge and today it was the turn of bricks.........

Fortunately many hands make light(ish) work and we only carried what we could manage - LIFT WITH THE KNEES!! After a bit of puffing and panting, some excellent team work and canine encouragement from our beloved Jango we managed to get them all moved and in position for their new life as a border for some herb beds. A quick spot of bramble management and we headed off into the evening sun.

GREAT work team.