Melanie was BACK, armed with a crutch and with Redcliffe Nursery School but a stone's throw from our meet-up point.

The runners took in a bridge on their route whilst the walkers (and hobbler) headed straight to the Nursery School, all arriving together in a way we probably won't ever replicate.

Laura let us in - she'd snuck out of the governors' meeting, and we were let loose on the playground with oodles of leaves to sweep up and sand to refill the sandpit - much sweeping, shovelling and bag emptying/filling as appropriate. It was a top evening for teamwork with bag holders, sweepers and scoopers working together, except for Dave's habit of premature evacuation of his scoop before the bag holder was ready, so some leaves got to be scooped twice (or more).

The leaves get everywhere, so up on the climbing frame it was for Richard G, Vaguely Northern Darren made the leaf blower power lead stretch much further than anyone thought possible (and blowing somewhat aggressively). Matt moved the sand almost single-handedly until it was considered the dumpy sack was light enough to be lifted/dragged by some helpers, who made it look easy.

The rest of us scampered (hobbled) around as the leafage on the ground diminished and the pile of black bags grew - someone's going to be making a LOT of leaf mulch, which bodes well for the school's garden.

And there were still LOADS of leaves on the trees, so hopefully we get to do all this again in another month or so!

The rain kept off as we raked up a large leafy section near the compost bins. We were greeted by a lovely robin and moos of the 2 lovely cows. Leafing no leaf unturned we depoaited them in the compost and a final photo before trotting off.

Is not gold? This evening we were litter picking in the Redcliffe area, where we previously had a run in with the 5-0. No gold was found but some of the litter we found was golden. From a monster of unknown origin to a poster inviting people to a games event (maybe related?). The usual plethora of litter was also picked. We did not gambol although the rats were quite excited to see us. Anyway that’s enough random rambling.

No litter pickers were harmed in the making of today’s task. Mostly.

Until next time…

A bright clear October morning saw us gathering to help Manor Woods Valley Group prepare for their apple picking event next weekend. The harvested apples will be sent away for pasteurisation with the juice being shared between volunteering sessions and Withywood food bank.

We used shears to cut away any brambles and undergrowth that might restrict access to the fruit trees.

A productive morning spent in amongst the colourful Autumn leaves with the usual tea break at the end ☕️

Danica has put together a short video of the session here

…. and strim, with a bit of weeding and bramble bashing thrown in for the lovely and very grateful Mrs M 😊

It's definitely dark at 6.45 now, a twilight/twiiterlight walk and run to Brunswick Cemetery where we met Di and the tree popper/root puller. It's a genius invention for clamping on roots and using a fulcrum to lever the root out - physics meets gardening!

There was lots going on at the spiral with path being widened - the rain had made the ground give up the weeds more easily but the gravel path was dry enough to sit or kneel on - perfect for weeding and chatting GoodGym style.

Everyone who'd been at the task was also coming to Eats so an incentive to get tidied up and on our way for more chat and an unexpected casual game of dominos at Turtle Bay, though the domino rally was thwarted by the real wood unevenness of the tables. There was identification of the reggae versions of 80s tunes, there was awe at Richard G's hand-knitted bee race medal, there was planning for keeping Melanie sane-ish after her foot operation. Marianne took over responsibility for the Loaned Padlock, promising shed cone along on Tuesday except the one where she's Morris Dancing for a TV dating show's fake summer fair. All good slightly bonkers loveliness. Standard stuff for GG Bristol.