September already! Our monthly visit to the Carriers of Hope took a new turn this evening with a field trip out to the Earlsdon Allotment – a beautiful plot right next to Earlsdon School Allotment. Who would have guessed!

Six GoodGymers turned up: Jackie, Laura, Lucy, Anne, Nigel and myself. We all met at the task and got stuck in.

The garden was wonderfully organised and clearly well looked after, thanks to Anne, a long-time trustee of Carriers of Hope who took it on and has kept it going. with the help of volunteers. We were warmly greeted by Anne, Gloria and Maxine. Anne told us a little about the plot and how great Gloria is at growing vegetables, then set us various tasks. Before long we were all busy. Lucy and Anne tackled taking down the beanpoles, weeding and turning over the soil in one of the beds. Laura and Jackie cleared another bed, weeding, turning the soil and making sure every last bit of bindweed was out. Nigel teamed up with Maxine (Gloria’s lovely daughter) to clear and harvest the potatoes – and there were quite a lot of them! Maxine decided to play “guess our ages” and was absolutely spot on. I am 35 and not a day older; Nigel is doing well at 46. Maxine is welcome back any time! There was no shortage of jobs: pruning, clearing, weeding and carting everything off to the compost. Gloria kindly made us cups of tea and coffee, plus cakes – we were very well looked after.

All the harvested veg and fruit go to St Mark’s World Food Hub. There were so many potatoes that we each took a couple home, and I have to say they were delicious. We finished the evening by singing Happy Birthday to Gloria, whose birthday is coming up very soon. Best to ask Maxine how old she’s going to be – lol! A really great end to a lovely evening.!

11 Goodgymers attended Earlsdon Primary School to finish painting the gate and railings outside the school. We started this task whilst coats were still needed, so we were long overdue a visit to finish the job off.

We started by giving the railings a good wipe as they were very dusty, and then got to work painting. With lots of catching up to do amongst the group the time flew by, and there was even time for the expert painters to tidy up some of the patches we missed last time.

Excellent work everyone, the school looks ready for another academic year!

On Tuesday evening, Jackie, Lil, James and I went to Keresley Orchard to link up with Sharon and Steve. Our objective was to water as many of the 63 trees as we could, clear brambles and rubbish. Jackie started with some litter picking with Sharon before moving her focus onto bramble clearing. Steve led the bramble clearing with the strimmer with Jackie, Lil and James assisting. I was on watering duty, 90 seconds per tree with an 80 m hose which had a few connections to keep an eye on! We were lucky to have Bruno the dog make a guest appearance and bring a smile to all! We made sure not to disturb the hedgehog water stations. 2 young Keresley lads came to warn me about scorching the grass with the water, bless them! We are looking forward to further visits to see how they're getting on.