It was a massive turnout today morning, as we all headed down to Leazes Park to help out Urban Green. Today's task was to clear the top of the bushes at the edges of the park boundary. Some of the bushes and ivy was encroaching on the adjacent pavement and we needed to clear it out. Mike was there with his hedge trimmer. With so many of us there, we got so much done! It was definitely an eventful morning!

What a fab GoodGym morning at Sandown Allotments today!

Four out of five of us had started the day with a parkrun, while Rae had run 5k to the task which definitely counts! Anna did a combo of both- running Jesmond Dene parkrun before running to the task. Kudos!

This cute community allotment first asked for our help a few months back with soil clearing as they work towards creating some planters for local people to look after and support their mental health. This was a perfect example of a super GoodGym task as we got stuck into a proper physical workout alongside a group of the allotments' regular volunteers. Forks and spades aplenty, countless wheelbarrow trips and a huge amount of satisfaction went into really giving this task some welly. Anna got so into this one that she managed to land bottom-first into some nettles- that girl doesn't know her own strength! With no dock leaves nearby she danced her way through the session like a trooper and handed us this perfect pun on a platter (Paul's work, not mine!).

Ninety minutes of digging were rewarded by the amazing task owners with a selection of homemade cakes, bakes, biscuits and hot drinks. Truly a morning well spent and one we would love to revisit again and again.

Geordie pun alert!

After a delay due to rearranging the date to accommodate a lovely community mission a couple of weeks ago, we finally had March's social coffee run today. I wasn't sure how much interest there would be for a mid-week afternoon session so it was lovely to have Rae, Lucy and Adam along.

We met at Dean and Daniela's cafe and after a debate about the route we decided to go for the prettier (but hillier!) route, so we set off straight into Jesmond Dene. I should perhaps have confessed before we started that I sometimes get the paths confused in the Dene! Sure enough, we carefully made our way down some slippery steps. Our choice of the prettier route was then rewarded in Pets Corner by seeing the peacock with his tail feathers fully on display.

We then made our way UP and out of Jesmond Dene and into Paddy Freeman Park. Adam is relatively new to the area but I've lived just outside the park for 24 years, so when Adam asked who Paddy Freeman was, I was surprised (and ashamed!) to realise I have never thought to ask! We returned to Dean and Daniela's for refreshments and a bit of Googling, to find that Paddy Freeman was a tenant farmer who worked the land and mill of the Dene together with the land where The Freeman Hospital now stands, from 1795! So with a good run, a peacock sighting and a history lesson it was definitely an afternoon for deein good things!

A ten minute litter pick of my block/back alley including a quick reshuffle of the 12 (!) wheelie bins left at my back gate instead of their owners'. Stock photo as too dark/wet/I forgot.