Our community garden tasks have been a little thin on the ground this summer, so we were very excited to be invited back to Arkwright Meadows this week.

Katie had a few different tasks for us, the first of which was rejigging their shop area. With the hot, dry weather we've had lately, a lot of the plants in it had seen better days and it was time to consolidate them to fewer shelves and move the empty units out of the way.

Next, we split into two teams. Those who weren't around for last week's bramble attack (Leah, Rachel and Charlie who was celebrating his tenth GoodGym task!) headed over to the area normally used by the children's group to clear some more of the spiky fellows and make the amphitheatre space safer for them. It was tough but satisfying digging them out and I think we made a lot of good progress. They definitely hadn't grown back to the levels we saw when we first came to the site a year or two ago.

Over on the other side of the gardens, Peter, Natalie and Nigel were on compost duty, moving the oldest compost into containers ready to be used and jumping up and down on the newer stuff to tamp it down. Good use of the GoodGym muscle, I'm sure you'll agree!

Ever had one of those tasks? It was a return to the Sherwood Community Centre for five Nottingham Goodgymers. Louise from the centre showed us to a different part of the site and, wow, definitely overgrown! Apparently, there used to be a path leading to a gate. The big question was, where was the gate! A lady called Carol waved a broom in the air to give us clue and so, armed with loppers, cutters and skip bags Chris (attending his first task - welcome aboard!), Peter, Nigel and Natalie set to work whilst Matt went round to the gate to set to from there. Eventually in Channel Tunnel style we met in the middle and there is now a path! Plenty more still to do to clear what is potentially a fantastic community space but if anyone can......

We were back at the ICCA tonight for some more railing painting.

It started a little differently, though, with Leah and Sarah meeting up for dinner at the ICCA's Dosti Club. Fully carb-loaded on noodles, chips and rice, plus a bit of mango kulfi where Natalie got in on the action, we headed down to get painting.

Charlie welcomed first-timer Jen, and we unpacked the kit. Leah finished off a tiny bit of the fiddly double gate we didn't get to last time while everyone else got cracking on the next section. We managed to get a decent chunk done in an hour, but we're seriously considering a hack Sarah had seen where you apply the paint with socks to get more done with a swipe.

So if you're joining us for one of these sometime soon, maybe raid your sock drawer on the way!

It was a winning night for team GoodGym Nottingham at Green’s Windmill and Science Centre in Sneinton. We love coming to this hidden oasis each summer to do a bit of weeding and tidying to help out the regular volunteers during their busy season.

On arrival we spotted the windmill all wrapped up in white – not in anticipation of the later England match, but because it is undergoing an extensive restoration project involving mending the cap, repointing the exterior of the tower, stripping and repainting the interior of the tower, refurbishing the sails.

The site’s Heritage Development Officer, Jamie, met us on arrival and took us through to the gardens. He set us to work clearing the pathways of weeds and fallen apples, and we spent the next hour enjoying the calm summer’s evening, chatting away as we worked.

GoodGym tasks often bring out the most bizarre and unexpected of conversations. This task was no exception, somehow ending up with an insightful chat about mummification between three of the group. No idea how that started, perhaps inspired by the windmill’s current bandaged façade???

Well done to this week’s volunteers - Leah, Nigel, Natalie, Matt, Sarah and Rachel.

Next week we're back at the ICCA with the very exciting addition of some delicious Indian street food on offer - sign up here.