We were back at Walter Halls School last night for another incredibly fun task. This week, we moved away from the pond and garden area where we have worked previously to focus on one of the storage cupboards underneath part of the school (although Peter and Tom did start off with a quick 10-minute pickaxe session on the pond area to warm them up, or was it a cool down after also running from Market Square to the school?).

Our job was to help clear out an enormous amount of ‘stuff’ from the storage area so that it could be sorted through and tidied. We set to work with Adele and Emma from the school, taking all the items outside so that we could assess what was worth keeping and what would, sadly, need to be disposed of.

There was such a random mix of equipment, toys, tools, boxes and much more…plus a wheelchair. However, most surprising was a huge pile of pushchairs which had been donated to the school by East Midlands Airport. Emma went through them all to check them and see if they were still functional, and we all helped with some of the trickier ones to see if we could work out how to put them up and down – we managed most of them, but some had us stumped!

Once all the equipment was out, we swept and cleaned up the storage area ready for the salvageable items to be put back in. With the cupboard repacked in a more orderly fashion, we finished up by wheeling all the broken pushchairs and taking all the rubbish to the bins at the rear of the school ready for collection.

It was lovely to see Tom back after a break and also well done to AJ for completing his 5th GoodGym task.

Thank you to Adele and Emma for once again hosting us at this amazing school. We’ve enjoyed every visit so far and we always leave feeling satisfied and impressed with all the amazing projects going on at the school.

It was a leaflet-delivering task with a bit of a twist yesterday as Leah, Peter and Rachel headed to the Broxtowe area of Nottingham. Our task was to deliver leaflets for the FoodCycle Broxtowe-Aspley’s community meal, which provides free dinner to local residents every Tuesday evening. It is an amazing community initiative and they are looking for more guests to attend and benefit from it.

However, before we got to work, we had another important job to do first – meet Mark from ITV who wanted to film us in action! They were planning to do a piece about The Big Green Week which is taking place from 7th to 15th June and wanted to film us doing a task and ask a few questions.

Mark started filming us delivering leaflets as we tried to look energised and cheery as we trotted up and down people’s driveways (no acting skills needed of course, we always have fun on GoodGym tasks!). After Mark had all the action shots he needed, he set up to do a short interview with Leah who had stepped up to be the spokesperson (again!).

Peter and Rachel continued with the leafletting and Leah joined back in once she was done with coming up with answers to questions about the Big Green Week. After 50-minutes and 2km covered, all the leaflets were safely in letter boxes and we jogged back to the meeting place.

We don’t know if/when the footage will be on ITV but we will share it if we spot it. Perhaps even more exciting was the pretty route map we created on this task (see photos)!!

Bozena, Leah and Rachel headed to Sneinton on Saturday to help with 'skip day'. This brilliant initiative was organised by the Sneinton Waste Action Group (SWAG), to enable local residents to dispose of unwanted items and waste in one time and place. Or rather, in two giant skips.

The base for the event was Lindum Grove Community Gardens where we have spent many-a-task previously, and on arrival we admired several recent changes including the growth of the trees we planted a while ago and a new perimeter fence (sadly replacing one of our dead hedges, but much needed to create a more contained and safe garden for children).

Skip day was in full swing with a group of enthusiastic volunteers taking receipt of various items of waste which were being dropped off by a steady stream of residents. These ranged from regular black bin bags of rubbish, right through to a large metal container resembling an oil drum and an old office chair, and everything in between. The team were sorting through items that could be re-purposed or gifted to others and the whole event had such a positive, festival vibe.

We spent an hour helping out by litter picking around some of the nearby roads and taking some items of fly-tipping to the skips. We managed to collect three bags full of litter, plus an old bike frame, a mattress and a slinky which had seen much better days.

Sadly we just missed the samba band who were about to start as we departed, but we had a great time playing a small part in this fab community event.

A stonking 10 GoodGymers descended on Walter Halls School this week for an evening of garden renovation. We were back in the same area we started last time that is being turned into a pond and wildflower garden.

We welcomed Peter for his first session, which he took with gusto, swinging a pickaxe like a pro, taking turns with Peter and assisted by Dayna and Rosemarie with spades.

Debbie and Aj started off by collecting stones to put in the tyre planters, then topped them up with branches and soil.

At one point, Pete M and Dayna (the two tallest people) helped remove a rainbow tarpaulin from the wooden pergola as it had seen better days and Adele wanted to repurpose the material for something else.

Nigel, Rachel and Marta planted some wild flowers in the no-dig beds we created, and Marta did a lot of watering with Debbie

Leah and one of the school staff, Emma, headed off up to the entrance to cut down some branches that had been causing a trip hazard on the paths, loading them into one of the now-empty tonne bags for use later in the planters.

Busy busy busy! Too bad ITV cancelled on us at the last minute!

Four Goodgymers headed back to the Windmill Community Gardens to tackle the second half of the brook

Peter, Nigel, Rosemarie and Neville ( for his GG debut - welcome aboard!) armed themselves with sturdy gloves, loppers and rakes (the scythe stayed in the shed - probably for the best!)

First job was to actually get in amongst the brambles and, with the help of Linda from gardens and a bit of crawling under the bridge we were in!

What followed was 60 minutes of hacking, lopping, raking and generally trying not to get scratched and gouged as we managed to clear most if the other half of the brook.

So satisfying to see our hard work pay off, especially as it seemed an almost impossible task. We can't wait to see what they have lined up for us next..!

GoodGym Nottingham felt all a bit Stone Age this week!

We were back at Walter Halls School with Adele, this time tasked with helping make over a patch of ground that will soon become a garden for the children to tend to.

Peter took a pickaxe to the patch marked out to become a pond. The ground there is pretty tough at the moment and Adele wants to have the kids help dig it out, so he was breaking it up and turning it over for them to make things a little easier.

Dayna, Vytautas and Rosemarie were digging holes to plant some of Adele's ferns and climbers – much tougher than it sounds with the hard soil, roots and rocks hindering progress.

Leah and Rachel were back shifting soil from a tonne-bag up on the hill down to the new garden space, and created a no-dig flowerbed with newcomer Marta getting the honours of sprinkling over the new wildflower seeds for her ingenious use of a big log as a hammer to get the little border fence into the ground.

We're back in a couple of weeks, hope you can join us!