A month has flown by and it was time to give the GoodGym flowerbed its monthly check up and help out at the Canbury Community Gardens.

We had 9 enthusiastic GoodGymers this evening so we split into two groups and got cracking.

The GoodGym garden crew noticed that signs were good with some late alliums making an appearance and the salvias still providing lots of colour. Weeds had returned but were not too invasive so Claire and Sabir got tackling those and the dry leaves whilst Luke and Tom gave the laurel a hair cut and got rid of some larger weeds and brambles. A few trips to top up the woodchip and a quick drink for the hydrangea and the GG flowerbed was looking wonderful again.

Meanwhile, back at the community garden... Ben and Hazel got stuck into their first GG task by shoveling a load of mature compost into holding bins ready for when needed. Marie Noelle, Dave & Rachel spent their time trimming pathways and pruning bushes and plants that were over their best.

All in all a very productive and fun task! Welcome to GoodGym, Hazel and Benjamin. Hope to see you again :)

Rather unusually for a task we had to ‘break in’ to this one, with a saw, cutting back a thorny rose tree to gain entry to the garden we were tasked with clearing. Yes this week our group run was to St Paul’s C of E school where the long abandoned caretakers garden needed some serious attention from our group of seven GoodGymers.

We were glad to welcome new GoodGymer Zander at our meeting point at the Quaker Centre, and ran 2.5km to the task.

Once into the garden it was clear why our help was needed. The garden was littered with broken pots, dozens of growing bags full of old compost, overgrown spiky palms and a greenhouse full of dumped items.

Once again it’s amazing what a group can achieve in an hour. Luckily the school had got a skip and boy did we get to work filling it. Emily did a sterling job cutting back the worst of the spiky plants with Claire adding the cuttings to growing compost pile. Dave, Zander and Tom focussed on the top half of the garden, in particular the greenhouse which was transformed. Emma and Rachel went back and forth to the skip with the wheel barrow.

We gladly salvaged lots of items - ceramic pots, trays, a bird feeder and a lawn mower - which the school’s gardening club intend to put to good use. Hopefully now they have a clearer space they can work with.

We took a different 2.5km route back to base for a welcome stretch and cool down led by Emma who has hopefully now passed her GoodGym fitness leader training! Well done Emma and congratulations on achieving 50 good deeds as well this evening. You're an asset to GoodGym, thank you for all your support and enthusiasm.

10 GoodGymers headed to Searchlight for our regular Tuesday session to give the kitchen and approach to the building a thorough deep clean.

Searchlight Community Centre is a great facility, used by Mencap and other local groups. With a visit from the environmental health inspectors due, they reached out for our help.

GoodGymer Martel, who frequently volunteers at Searchlight, was able to give everyone a good briefing on what was needed.

Claire, Jana, Jassy, Rachel, Emma and Dave all helped in the kitchen - clearing out and cleaning the cupboards and the fridge, and dusting and scrubbing all the surfaces and floor.

Meanwhile Tom, Jade and Sabir rolled up their sleeves and weeded outside. They importantly also cut back the branches obscuring the Searchlight signage on the main road, so this vital community facility can be found more easily by its many visitors!

A highlight of the evening was congratulating and ‘crowning’ Sabir on achieving 50 good deeds - what a community hero!

Some of us finished off the evening with a group run back to the Quaker Centre - while those who had cycled to the task headed straight for home.

It was back to Kingsgate Church on Tuesday evening, where our host Sarah had some quite different tasks for us at this valuable food bank facility for local students.

Julie and Sabir were quick to work, sorting out noodles and weighing out bags of 'spicy seed mix', an alliterative combination that Jade, Luke, Rachel and Dave will not forget as they wrote out ingredient labels for the new packets.

Some super scripting solidly served - sterling stuff, squad!

As Tom and Claire checked over some new stock and moved it into crates upstairs, Jade smashed our cardboard boxes into smithereens and Luke finished wiping the fridges.

There’s always a nice welcome after climbing the infinite stairs in the church - we even got name tags and the offer of some spare pots of plant-based non-alcoholic brandy cream - and we’ll be back for another visit soon once the students disappear for the summer.