Pete, Lewis and Rachel welcomed back Helen who is fast becoming a GoodGym Derby regular and also Manlin on their first volunteering session with us!

It was great to see a new face on the team, Manlin is interested in the Tiny Forest site as part of their research work for their dissertation.

The team assembled at the Tiny Forest having travelled there by car, train or on foot and set about a plan for the evening. Thanks to Pete for clearing some litter from the recreation ground in front of the Tiny Forest site, Pete collected a bag of litter and left this at a bin at the end of the session.

The team made a visible impact, clearing nettles, thistles and ragwort and making the beginnings of paths inside the Tiny Forest. This was all whilst being distracted by a furry visitor who was very interested in what the group were doing. It transpired a local resident had been feeding the fox and now pretty tame, it had come to see if any food was available.

For most of the group, it was their first time at a Tiny Forest site so it was great to have Helen there who knows the site well as she and her work colleagues planted the trees when the site was first created.

Thanks again for everyone who helped out and good luck to Lewis who has two huge life events happening over the next few weeks.

Keep an eye out for the next Tiny Forest session with GoodGym Derby.

Ashley, Naomi, Mandy, Helen and Pete met on a beautiful Saturday morning to help out Ian of the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with some little picking and collection of discarded items. Along our way we discovered two tents hidden in the trees. One of tent seemed to be still in use, possibly by someone fishing, the other was long since abandoned so needed to be collected and disposed of responsibly. Taking a long loop around we collected several bags full of litter, chopped down an overhanging branch and generally have a great time chatting and laughing. We are all looking forward to helping out the Wildlife Trust on a regular basis.

Where on a grey Tuesday evening can you have debate and discussion around Greek philosophy, gay history, the stock exchange, the Euro’s, Derwent Reservoir and the 1977 Silver Jubilee?

Goodgym Derby that's where!!!!!!

Ashley and Pete met up with David to prune a large Yew tree, and the topics for discussion during the task were varied and generally totally unrelated!

Great company on a night I think we all learnt something 🧐. Feel free to join our debating group on the next task 😄.

Naomi and Pete turned up for the task far too early and had to sit around and make small talk before Ashley arrived and the task was able to start. David, as ever, was most gracious and plied us with hot drinks before the task. We set about probing the ground with a screwdriver, trying to find hidden grave slates. Once 4 were found we set about digging down through the years of accumulated dirt to uncover the slates, some of which might not have been seen for over a hundred years. Pete managed to uncover 2, but that was only because his were more shallow, compared to Ashley's Herculean effort for his that were so deep, a complex pulley and ladder system had to be set up. Another great task at the Church on a beautiful summer's evening.

Ashley, Pete and Rachel met with David and some members of the parish from St Matthew's Church for a litter picking session around Darley Abbey.

Pick of the night went to Pete early on, as he found what was potentially a character toy from Peppa Pig. This was found in the church grounds and placed in an obvious location in case the owner and their parents returned.

The team went on a new route that they hadn't tried before, thanks to David from the church for this. Lots of food packaging, drinks containers and cigarette butts were collected.

Grateful for the temperature dropping from what it had been during the day, the team chatted about the upcoming England Vs Slovenia Euros match and upcoming GoodGym sessions that people were booked on and looking forward to.

Thanks as always to everyone who came along and made a difference to our community.