136 GoodGymers have supported Bristol Parks - Friends of Dame Emily Park (DEPP) with 24 tasks.
Tuesday 4th February
Written by Melanie Young (she/her)
It was a lovely, dry evening to celebrate Ed's 50th good deed and imminent new t-shirt - congratulations!
Back at Dame Emily Park for emergency bulb planting, the tyres moved previously had been stacked as planters and filled most of the way with compost.
Our task was to get the bags of sprouting bulbs into the tyre-planters, right way up, then top-up with woodchip and hide some small bulbs in the top. Much carrying of buckets of woodchip and avoidance of buckets of manure (destined for the raised planters) getting mixed up - top science knowledge from Richard B.
Planters filled, we still had more bulbs so started planting around the wicker dome we lovingly tie new growth into - this time the bulbs were going into grass so some L-shaped lawn-lifting was deployed to hide a bulb each time. Or throw them at Richard G.
We saturated the grass with our bulbs and time was nearly up so it was time for Polish wafers from Ursula, end of task photos (we did enjoy it, honestly!) and off back to Queen Square for GoodGym Eats at Suyuan, stopping off at the off-licence for those who wanted to BYO alcohol.
Much food and after some flowering bulb knowledge shared with Harsheh, we were on our ways home, with one GoodGymmer declaring she was rushing to get home as she was on an early shift tomorrow, until Frances saw there was no queue at the Bristol Light Festival swings and she was off in a flash.
Special thanks to Vaguely Northern Darren for run leading (no-one mention bulbs), Caroline for back-marking and Jason for beating me to Workout to meet other GoodGymmers as they arrived.
Sunday 3rd November 2024
Written by Melanie Young (she/her)
It was the end-of-year party at the Dame Emily Park Project which meant some litter picking and weeding before enjoying the live music, mulled apple juice and fire-warmed sausages whilst checking out the pond’s amazing fence, HUGE bug hotel development and general loveliness.
Tuesday 22nd October 2024
Written by Bristol runner
Listen up, y'all, 'cause this is it.
The beat that I'm bangin' is delicious.
Frogalicious, definition make them goodgymers go loco.
They want my treasure, so they get their pleasures from my pond yo.
You could see me, you can't squeeze me.
I ain't easy, I ain't waiting in my pond see.
I got reasons why I tease 'em.
Goodgymers just come and go like seasons.
Frogalicious (definitely not delicious).
Word to your mother.
(we also did some planting and made a fence but really hard to fit into the song!)
Tuesday 17th September 2024
Written by Melanie Young (she/her)
It was a Great Moon, but was it really a Super Moon?
Our regular corner of Queen Square was a bit congested with filming happening nearby AGAIN (Young Sherlock?) and we even had our own security guards who were Very Chatty Indeed. Not convinced it was just the caffeine from the Monster can talking...
We set off for a lovely sunny walk or run to Dame Emily Park with lots of other people out and about enjoying the warm evening. Melanie found a phone before we'd even left the square, and that will shortly be posted off to it's owner who'd been on a visit day to Bristol from Swindon. Obviously the phone preferred Bristol, who wouldn't?
The next find was a highland cow badge, but like Jason by the M Shed, it set my camera focus to "obscure" to avoid publicity.
At the park, the runners had just beaten the walkers and Ursula was explaining the wildlife work of the evening - cutting back an overgrown hedge that was also home to a tall sycamore trying to take over, finding the bulbs and rescuing the pollen-y plants that had been trampled, clearing the tarmac waster, salvaging the wood and digging over another trampled flower bed and having loads of fun in the process.
And we created a new job of transforming the fallen sycamore into whips that can be used to weave a low level wildlife-friendly hedge around the pond (which, I stress, no one fell into).
As the lovely sunlight faded, the moon was looking HUGE and we later discovered it was a Super Moon - but we liked it before we knew it had a posh name. We loved the lemon and ginger tea and biscuits Ursula had carried over with her, and offered to help put away all the tools but we think Ursula may have wanted some peaceful time to enjoy the Super Moon herself, and probably wanted everything put away in the right places...
Off we trotted, walking and running back to Queen Square and saw the security guards had moved a bit and it was different guards on duty so we snuck past them and headed on to Workout where we avoided being dragged into the Speed Dating and the Liverpool supporters were sad when AC Milan scored in the third minute. But all came good in the end.
Tuesday 20th August 2024
Written by Melanie Young (she/her)
There's been lots of construction at Dame Emily Park where the Community Garden now has concreted raised beds instead of rotting planters and they've taken the opportunity to sift soil to remove the big- and medium-size stones. With mushroom boxes over buckets to keep it real.
With a team on the main stone-removing, a second team on the in-planter stone removing and a third team weeding, boarding and mulching the berry plants, it was all systems go in the fading sunshine with everyone trying to keep warm.
Discussions included whether slo-mo would make the soul-sifting more action-packed and what music was appropriate for a speeded-up version and whether the Benny Hill theme tune was a saxophone. Full marks to Frances for knowing Yackety Sax.
Azzurra and Janka had made short work of the berry-mulching and, with full protection gloves, set about feeding the nettle soup with more lovely chopped nettles.
The soil-sifters had soon worked through enough soil to have topped up the first planter, with Vaguely Northern Darren and Caroline from the running group working in situ whilst Robin raked and taught them both some German, or Italian, or both.
The soil was then covered in cardboard weighted down with bricks and, because we're super-resourceful, the big stones from the soil sifting. Meanwhile, the medium-sized stones were making a path to the resources shed under the careful eyes of Bruce and Jason with Roddy and Marianne maximising the sifting-per-second speed.
With the work (almost) done, we enjoyed Ursula's refreshments - Blackberry juice and biscuits - and the empty wheelbarrow that had worked hard.
As Vaguely Northern Darren had hurt his back during the task, everyone decided to walk and talk back to Queen Square and onwards to sitting outside at Workout as there was speed dating going on, which we tried not to disrupt - honest!
See you all at the next one - Wednesday lunchtime, Wednesday evening, Friday morning,Bank Holiday Monday or next Tuesday.
Tuesday 25th June 2024
Written by Melanie Young (she/her)
Hot. Very Hot. The walkers outnumbered the runners but Vaguely Northern Darren was everyone's best friend when he arrived with boxes of mini Calippo to share out. Ursula was ready for us, the runners arriving first by more time than usual as the walkers were held up with a bridge swing at Princes Street Bridge, holding us up from making a wildlife bridge to encourage creatures transitting the city.
We split into Team Dead Hedge and Team Watering with TDH annihilating a live hedge which will form the basis of a dead hedge at low level and allowed to be a live hedge above. This was made possible by much "skilled pruning" and an ambitious movement of a dumpy sack full of sticks from one side of the 5-foot wire fence to the other by managing to lift and balance it on a wheelbarrow - welcome to GoodGym, Bruce!
The detail watering of shrubs along a new hedge line (a live hedge line, this one, not a dead hedge line) was completed speedily so it was on with tying in willow to the willow dome (decidedly unshady in its youth but hopefully a bit more shady next year!) and the invention of GG Bristol's Willow Club, complete with matching tying-in bracelets - rocking the look, Danica, and Darren.
TDH were also going great guns with the dumpy sack of twigs added to the greenery chopped from the live hedging and the pallets brutally kicked apart by Phill and skillfully shoved down by Caroline, Richard, Paul, David, Jason, Janka, Marianne and Frances. The team soon moved on to creating a sacrificial mud pie zone (or maybe a rockery) by layering cardboard then soil brought down from the top of the park, surrounded by a stone circle in a nod to the Summer Solstice.
Great work, team, and thanks for the drinks and biscuits!
Back in time for the match, which wasn't worth it!
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