On a rainy Saturday morning, Ben, Peter & Sanjeev took to Gorse Hill Allotments to start prepping the plot for winter.

Taking care to avoid the pumpkins 🎃 , the group were let loose on the overgrown weeds with shears in hand! The jungle of the pollytunnel was cleared out and bindweed & brambles tamed across the patch.

With the clearance complete and a sizeable pile of mulch gathered, cardboard was laid and topped with the freshly cut foliage 🌿. Nature will do the hard work now; breaking it all down over the coming months, while helping to keep the weeds at bay!

The last task was to plant out a few perennials which had been picked up from B&Q on discount! Four Currant plants and two Gooseberry's... a welcome addition that will provide fruit for years to come! 🍇

We will be back in November for another session at Gorse Hill 🌱, so keep an eye out on the GoodGym Manchester page! 🏃

Super task this evening for a magnificent seven GoodGymers in Withington!

🧱 We joined Ed from Withington Walls to give a couple of spaces a thorough clearing in preparation for some upcoming street art pieces.

Robert and Sanjeev start on a wall in the co-op car park, removing the weeds before slapping on a lot of masonry paint as a base layer, Sanjeev opting for the overalls for added protection.

Meanwhile, Jodie put her climbing skills to the test to cover up some street tags high up, and went along with Peter to cover a wall near the Red Lion. Julia filled in some spots near the opticians in Withington, while a team effort of Fanette, Ben, and Peter cleared a lot of brambles and shrubbery from a larger wall before covering it with masonry paint 🎨

We got a lot more covered than expected, covering two large walls plus some smaller, fill-in side quests too. Thankful for head torches and bike lights 🔦🕯 to provide some light, although may need to invest in some portable floodlights in future.

After applying the finishing touches, we cleared up and look forward to seeing what will become of the walls!

Welcome to Haimish for your first GoodGym Manchester session 👏

Change of plan this evening with Ella from Heaton Park not available last minute for animal centre painting, so instead the fab 4 had an evening stroll and litterpick around Heaton Park.

Nice evening jaunt from the Stables Cafe across the fields, past the Highland Cows, and through the undergrowth to unearth lots of discarded bottles, plastic cups, and crisp packets.

3 bags of rubbish in total, with a few challenges of "guess the litter" and "find something purple" thrown in for good measure.

Lights drawing in with lots of animals (squirrels, rabbits, cows, and the odd donkey) in the park. Hoping to rearrange the painting soon, so watch this space.

On Monday evening this week, we were back at Eden Gardens Orchard in Philips Park to give the trees inside the orchard a bit of a trim. Ben and Peter completed a couple of laps of the park, while Scott cycled on a scenic route and Sanjeev used public transport, all to converge onto the site for 6pm.

The main focus was a plum tree overhanging some neighbouring plots in the allotment site. We were provided with ladders, various loppers (manual and ratchet varieties) plus a range of bow saws, hand saws, plus pruning saws (one of which could be extended to reach the high up branches). Peter was the main protagonist with the saw, climbing the ladder to saw the target branches and trunks to remove, while Scott and Sanjeev trimmed down any pieces to fit inside the tonne bags. Ben stabilised the ladder and caught any branches coming down from high up, combining this with a lasso-type method to encourage them to fall on the right side of the fence.

After tidying up the cuts and moving the equipment to the orchard side of the fence, we were tasked with pruning (lopping) a larger tree inside the orchard. While more accessible, the trunks were certainly thicker and through a combination of the extended pruning saw, tied ropes, and gravity, we managed to get the desired branches down, with only a few cuts and grazes to show for it.

The remainder of the tasks involved us trying to cut the pieces down to be small enough to fit in the tonne bags, with the larger and thicker trunks left. Three overfull tonne bags later, we were done, with the midges starting to come out and bite.

Tough task, with a loose adherence to health and safety, but we seemed to enjoy it all the same. We will be back at the orchard in the autumn and perhaps in the park to clear some areas for future planting.

The famous five made a fab job of harvesting and maintaining the community plot at Gorse Hill Studios allotment this evening.

After a stop-start run from Deansgate, we convened onto the plot in the overcast sunshine, ready to get a good session in. Scott and Ben harvested a surprising number of potatoes 🥔 of many sizes, with more and more being unearthed as we scoured the plot.

Meanwhile, Sanjeev and Fanette were on bean harvesting duty 🫘 with lots of runner beans picked out, while others continued to grow. There were also lots of tomatoes 🍅 harvested from within the polytunnel, with some not quite ready to pick, so plenty more to come.

Peter was lead waterer, planter, planner, and coordinator, making sure plots were seen to and planning ahead for next year.

There was also a lot of corn 🌽 harvested plus any apples 🍎 that were ready to pick.

Very productive session, and we dropped off all the bounty to Gorse Hill Studios for them to use in their community groups.

Afterwards, we had a well earned Wetherspoons tea and beverage, making full use of the Monday night deals, before making our way home in the Manchester rain 🌧

Another month, another Manchester Post delivery. This time, we were collecting the newspapers from the local library in Fallowfield, at The Place on Platt Lane, to deliver to nearby streets.

Likely due to lots being picked up from the library by locals, we only had around 100 newspapers 📰 this time between the three GoodGymers.

Sanjeev played the supporting role while Julia was on first name terms with any passers-by or locals who were curious about what we were doing. Very thankful for an ice lolly on a warm day too!

A quick jog home in the evening sun rounded off the task for Ben and Sanjeev, while Julia made her way home with a Manchester Post in hand.

Super effort from Victor, Sanjeev, and Ben this evening to help Keep Manchester Tidy 🚮

Despite a late-arriving Sanjeev, we made the short trot towards the Bridgewater Hall and Hulme from the relative quiet of St Peter's Square with no metrolink running. It wasn't long before litter on pavements and next to parked cars started to build up, an apt cue to bring out the gloves, litter pickers, and dashing pink refuse sacks.

Lots of squashed drinks cans, takeaway trash, and plastic bottles slowly filled up the bags, with flyers and coffee cups adding to the load. Near the bridge to Hulme Park, we unearthed a whole host of rubbish including a broken tartan umbrella 🌂 and several laughing gas cannisters.

After crossing the bridge, Hulme Park was relatively tidy, with just a few hotspots identified and rubbish removed.

In total, we collected 7 refuse sacks, 4 cannisters, plus a brolly and some broken poles. A good haul left next to a public bin, and reported to Keep MCR Tidy for collection during council rounds.