We were back at Sydney Gardens again this week, after a mere seven days had elapsed since our last visit. We are very popular and in demand though, and they also have the Mayor visiting next Sunday.

Today was all about the impending arrival of said dignitaries and how we could help contribute to a safe and pleasant day for all involved. Dedicated GoodGymmers Cosmo, Tanya and Meyrick were in attendance and we were set to work by our supervisor (Gill from the Friends of Sydney Gardens) to finish tidying up the area around the Supper Room, where we had previously worked.

Mostly brambles and nettles, there was enough to keep us occupied for the hour of our stay.

Just as the media like to announce 'The Warmest Day of the Year So Far' as we move from Winter to Spring, so we at GoodGym should announce that today's mission was the Warmest of 2025 (thus far).

Three GoodGymmers braved this awesome weather to help the Friends of Sydney Gardens. Tanya, Kam and Meyrick met on the bridge overlooking the railway line as usual.

We were tasked, by Gill our colleague at FOSG, with something we'd already made a pretty good start on. Avid readers of my run reports will no doubt recall the work we've previously carried out digging out the entrances to a couple of grottoes. These date back to pre-Victorian times and the idea is to clear the approach to them in order to make them into a feature.

I joked at the previous mission that we'd dug down to about 1970 and although we made some more headway this morning, we've still a couple of hundred years of accumulated topsoil to clear. It's a tough dig as well, the soil is riddled with roots, some a thick as a dog's leg, as well as chunks of limestone.

We keep chipping away, at this rate it might take a couple of years but it's exciting to imagine what we might find when we get to the bottom. This is more than just a GoodGym mission, this is GoodGym with added Indiana Jones.

We've had some wonderful weather recently, but as is oft the case with the English climate, it doesn't stay for long. Having said that, it wasn't in any way uncomfortable as 8 GoodGymmers (Cosmo, Ruth, Aaron, Jason, Emily, Kate, Ava and Meyrick arrived for one of two visits to Sydney Gardens this month.

Dry it was, and cloudy, perhaps a little chilly in the wind, but a far cry from winter which I hope we've now left well behind. The Friends of Sydney Gardens have a 'formal event' of some kind on the 11th of May, (apparently the mayor is attending). There are certain areas that need a tidy up before this as they will be viewed by the visiting dignitaries, and GoodGym Bath were more than happy to help.

There is a gated enclosure next to the Holburn Museum, which acts as a store for grounds maintenance. In the middle of this area is a derelict building, a relic from the 1700s. Our supervisor educated us that back in those days, this derelict building was in fact a 'Supper Room' and was linked to the main building (the Holburn Museum) by a series of other buildings, a bit like the West Wing.

This was overgrown with weeds, brambles, nettles and saplings all vying for dominance; the result of years of neglect had let them run amok. Our job was to trim this unsightly flora back and reveal what is left of the Supper Room to be seen in all it's glory - this will, though, take some imagination.

We pretty much cleared it all in the short time we had. Great work GoodGymmers, we'll be back in two weeks.