Four cheery Goodgymmers arrived not long after sunrise on a damp January morning to help marshal the Brickfields Park parkrun. We donned hi-viz and were briefed by run director Andy before carrying our signs, first aid kit (happily not needed) and turnaround cone along to our various positions on the course. Once the parkrun was underway we cheered on the runners and walkers, helping to keep everyone on track while enjoying the lovely community spirit always to be found at parkrun! There were 247 finishers today but the event couldn't have gone ahead without the 36 volunteers! We'll be returning again soon, hope you can join us next time!

Myself, Meyrick and Bennath embraced the grey, dampness of last Sunday morning and helped out in the community garden. We met with the chair of Alice Park, who gave the exciting news that the park has been gifted a Sycamore Gap tree sapling, one of just 49 in existence. We were asked to help smarten up a tree guard which will protect the sapling. We sanded off the old peeling paint, while Bennath also multi -tasked with some compost turning, and then gave the guard a coat of shiny new paint.

We have been invited back on Saturday 21st February for the official planting of the famous sapling, which will be planted in honour of local looked after children.

Hope to see you there!

I helped set up the Tuesday Toddler group at St Andrew’s Church in Foxhill, Bath.

I’ve been doing this for a year now, staying on for an hour to help with crafts.

Today was different as I stayed on to LEAD the crafts. As it was Epiphany (celebrating the visit of the Wise Men aka the three kings) we made star pictures.

Slightly chaotic but we survived, the only casualty being the lid of one of my new metallic pens.

Well this is always a slightly sad occasion, taking down the decorations at St John's Court that we had so enthusiastically put up at the beginning of December.

Never quite as popular as its retrospective counterpart, there were still a good number of GoodGymmers on hand to do the deed. Tanya, James, Bennath and Meyrick were brave enough remove all traces of Christmas for the lovely elderly residents of St Johns Court.

On a positive note, it only took about 40 minutes so we were able to leave early. See you next Christmas St Johns!!

Today saw our return to Bath Organic Group, after a very long hiatus. This used to be a popular mission and we were all looking forward to getting back into it.

We were casually greeted and given a quick fire guide of the tasks up for grabs. These included: hedge laying (not an easy task for the uninitiated, and I speak from experience), cutting back some pesky willow trees and our favourite, carting wheelbarrows of mulch and spreading it over a raspberry bed and a gooseberry orchard. As usual, we all got stuck in! Four of us: Kate, Cosmo, Meyrick and Emily turned their hands to carting mulch and gently setting it down in the beds. The ground was very frozen and it did feel like we were tucking the plants up tight and warm. Ruth and Bennath made friends with the willow trees and gave them a good haircut.

A massive congratulations to Ruth! Today's mission marked her 100th! Thank you for your hard work and support!

A visit to BOG isn’t complete without a tea break and they didn’t disappoint. About an hour in we were called in for tea and cake and we had the opportunity to chat to some of the lovely regulars. After a little pit stop we got right back to it, and as ever time flies and our time was up.

It was so good to be back, and everybody had a great time. Fingers crossed we can make this a regular event! Failing that, there is a Wassail on the 17th January and we might all go for a bit of a shout and a stomp around to help the apple trees. I was told that last year they had a bumper crop, so I expect there will be plenty of cider!

Thanks all!

Problem with Autumn is there are a lot of leaves to clean up. Most of the time we just 'leave' this to nature, or cancel trains. But here at Sydney gardens, there is a huge task every year to clean up all the flower beds which become indundated with the things.

It is not becoming of England's last remaining Pleasure Garden to have untidy flower beds now is it? So that was today's task, cleaning the beds of leaves in support of the Friends of Sydney Gardens. Deciding not to Leave it Alone were Cosmo, Aaron, Tanya and Meyrick.

The leaves are not wasted, they are all put into the composting process. All done, we will be back in the New Year to continue supporting this wonderful initiative.