Yes I do indeed know a smattering of Shakespeare!

Academic boasts aside, tonight was a lovely task. The chilly wind that had been whipping around Oxford earlier died down just in time for our quintet of Goodgymers to do some gardening.

When we arrived at the Warneford site, Laura the gardener for the area, gave us a couple of options for tasks. We plumped for clearing, pruning and reviving some rose bushes around one of the entrances.

The roses had got rather choked by weeds and brambles and also just needed a good trim and tidy - a springtime haircut if you will! We all set to work and in true Goodgym style managed to blitz a large area and create a large compost pile. What we didn't get to this time hopefully we'll manage to finish off on our next visit in a few weeks.

Post task a few of us headed off for a run, chatting about parkrun tourism, and rewarded ourselves with a go on the zip wire in Southpark for managing to slog up the big hill!

Mrs J (a wheelchair user) and her husband had asked for help clearing out their back garden sheds so that there would be space to store things currently taking up a lot of space inside their house. They said that things had gotten out of hand during COVID lockdown when they didn't get a lot of help. We spent a warm Saturday afternoon helping them to start sorting and clearing items in the shed. We were impressed by how Mrs J and husband engaged with the task, making quick decisions about what needed to go in the pile to throw away/donate or keep. It was definitely a team effort and we ended up with a large pile of items to be thrown away and quite a few to be donated to charity. After clearing out the first shed, we neatly replaced the items to keep (including Mrs J's cherished collection of dolphin related items) back inside. The second shed was also tackled and almost fully cleared (including some fierce looking spiders!). Items that still needed to sorted, we stacked in the second shed and Mr J will try and go through them with his wife to sort and finish the task. Mrs J and her husband seemed very grateful for the help with the task which they said had been too overwhelming to start by themselves.

Seven Goodgymers helped with various jobs around Kate's Place in Florence Park. We moved some wood to make a "dead hedge" habitat, lifted some turf to plant some seeds, and weeded around trees. The main task however was transporting many many watering cans (and even a flexi trug bucket) full of water from the tap at Flo's cafe over to the trees and hedges that needed it after the dry spell we have had. Of course, at the end of our session it began to rain!

A bumper group of Goodgymers gathered at Dinton Pastures parkrun this morning for event number 288.

After the usual SPRINT to the start (one day we will be early.....) we gathered for the all important pre run selfie and listened to the run briefing.

The course is a 2 lapper with a bit of a congested start - next time we'll scooch to the front a bit more. We ran through wood land and skirted a couple of lakes for what was a lovely course and all looked terribly athletic at the finish!

After a photo with some with the sign and accompanying blossom we headed for the all important post run breakfast as an excellent cafe in the grounds of the nature reserve. Becky and Gary sparked an accidental debate about the combination of sweet and savory on one dish with their order of some pretty epic looking pancakes!

We also started planning the events that we needed to complete our parkrun alphabet!

Finally, and most importantly, happy birthday to Poppy Dog! 4 today!

We spent a sunny Wednesday evening helping out at the Marston Community Allotment. We weeded bindweed and nettles from a no-dig bed (sssshhh, don't tell - we had to dig a little bit to get the epic roots out), watered all the planted-up beds, and shovelled and barrowed compost to top up one bed and fill a raised bed.

Speedy work from all involved!

On Saturday we spruced up the garden at Littlemore Village Hall so that it's ready for them to host outdoor events through the spring and summer months.

We planted trees, pruned hazel, weeded flower beds, watered the plants, and cleaned the outdoor furniture. We were rewarded with sunshine and an abundance of tea and cake. Fun in the sun.