6 runners and 5 walkers mainly swam to The Southville Centre on a very soggy, dark and dreary night, even the Bristol Light Festival rarely pierced the gloom, but did that stop us!?...

Well, after arriving, Ru the Receptionist (not related to Rue the Day) showed us the kids' play deck that needed deconstructing, and the notes included a request to sweep and weed outdoors. 11 hardy GoodGymmers bravely volunteered to remain indoors while Caroline, Marianne and report-writer Vaguely Northern Darren had the easy job of sweeping and weeding in the glorious evening sky full of hydrating rainfall!

The indoors people did as much as they could with the most mis-matched set of Allen keys they could find, and what looked like a child's screwdriver set from the 1980's. 'We did as much as we could with the time available, and at least no one had to go to A&E' were the words I think summed up the night and I wonder if Dave has returned with his 'proper toolbox' to finish the job?

We polished off the night by drying out at a local vegetarian Chinese restaurant for February's GoodGym Eats, arranged by Alice this time now Clo has moved a bit further away.. And we'd turned up soaking wet last time we were there, too!

It was a warmer but not quite dry evening that greeted GoodGym Bristol on an evening when the walkers outnumbered the runners, who ran around the top of the harbour as Vauxhall Bridge is the latest to close for repairs with Sarah setting the pace. The walkers stuck with the short route over the re-opened Gaol Ferry Bridge and managed a lot of chat on the way, including finding out facts about Arron on his first group run and catching up with Katie who was back for her first group run on a while. Welcome!

Hugh has moved on from BS3 Community but the playground/outdoor space still needs looking after so we were met by Kay on reception duties and shown The Shed, The Compost Bin and the plethora of brushes for the task. A lack of hand tools was more than overcome with the discovery of a huge pick axe with a tiny pointy bit to get into the edges that needed weeding.

David Head was most chivalrous in lighting Sarah's way up to the compost bin with his Head torch (get it?), marginally less so on her way down. Having emptied the last bin of leaves and pick-axed weeds from the playground edges, there was a bit of time for football skills and a quick ride for those GoodGymmers with less-long legs - go Alexis!

Well done everyone - Kay was really impressed (although it was dark...) and Frances may have found a removal company for her imminent house move.

Hooray for Gaol Ferry Bridge being open again and hugely reducing the distance to BS3 Community's Southville Centre!

After a good old chat (running and cake-based, obviously) in Queen Square, plus a bit of admin and warming up, the running and walking groups set off in the "will it/won't it" evening weather. Many cats were seen by the walking group which led to a discussion about fat shaming cats being wrong, although one cat was really quite large, cat fact.

The running group beat the walkers there (who'd've thought?) and met with Hugh who artistically presented cakes before we'd even helped!

It was a return to brushwork - sweeping and painting, this time a darker oak colour instead of the cedar, plus a new blue for a boat! The boat has replaced the two teepees which apparently both collapsed despite all our wood preserving (and climbing on the big one).

A bench had been moved (and not yet collapsed) so we could access the back of it for the first time.

The playground/garden was looking really smart as the time ticked away to twenty to eight, more cakes and a temporary goodbye to Hugh who's moving to a new job and back to school and threatening to join GoodGym!

Back to Queen Square for drinks, chat and artistic sweet wrapper arrangements/destruction as we worked through the cake and chocolates from the previous evening's community mission to Hannah More Primary School, or HMP School as it says on their wheelbarrow...

A slightly cooler evening greeted nine wonderful GoodGymers as they gathered in Queen Square ready to set off to Southville Centre for today's task. It was great to welcome Declan who was joining us for the first time - we hope you enjoyed your first session Declan.

Paul kindly headed up the running group, with Richard backmarking and we all chatted happily as we ran, walked and dodged cars, pedestrians and cyclists on our way to the task.

Hugh greeted us at the Southville Centre and provided us with an array of paint brushes, brooms and dustpan and brushes to carry out an assortment of tasks.

The painters were Phill and Paul, tackling the fence posts, with Frances, Declan and Richard painting a small play house followed by a bench.

Meanwhile, Caroline, Clo, Jason and Dave were on sweeping up duty to clear the leaves, stones and dirt from the play areas and pathways.

45 minutes later we called time on our brush work with the place looking somewhat brighter and fresher and headed back to base and on to well earned burgers for this month's Eats Social 🍔 - yum! Nice one Clo on organising that and for taking the photos this evening!

The skies were HUGE over Bristol as GoodGymmers set about walking and running from Queen Square across to Southville to help BS3 Community tidy the outside space at the Community Centre that has a nursery by day.

Painting was soon underway with a competition of which could be painted first, the teepee* with sides or the teepee* climbing frame without sides. Most painted with modern brushes whilst Caroline branched out with a stick. Vaguely Northern Darren took some very artistic photos and High had come up trumps with late Easter treats of cupcakes that were the cause of our Cake Break. All tasks should have one.

Raquel showed her painting (and clambering) skills alongside Dora and Richard (who may have posed for a photo by the freshly-painted bench).

We were so pleased to see Chris back with us that he was in most of the photos whilst Frances showed an uncanny knack to hide from the camera. David and Ed were kept busy disrupting worms by sweeping up leaf mulch - sorry Lucas.

The run back was marred only by workout's café/bar being shut for a two-week refurb so it was an early night for our GoodGymmers after much good deeding.

*I have tried to research if this is cultural misappropriation or outright rude but the internet had more articles suggesting fact than faux pas so let me know if I've gotten it wrong.

A 16% chance of rain, they said. Cue rain and hail showers as a precursor to sleet - a bit chilly, especially for the walkers.

We had two brushing tasks on - outdoor sweeping and indoor painting, though it turns out hail melts as you try to sweep it up. The sheltered pergola was possibly the tidiest it's ever been but playground progress was made once the hail stopped. Indoors, tall and short painting was happening as the other aide of the corridor we'd painted a while ago was treated to its own like of paint. Hugh has learned by now to give is a roll of blue paper to catch any (many) drips heading for the floor.

After Melanie had finished a well-earned cup of tea, we were gathered in the centre's Warm Space area which is operating through the winter - tugs and cushions were much appreciated!

Back to Queen Square the short way as it was raining AGAIN and on i to Workout for drinks and GoodGymmers succumbing to the cakes on sale - perfect!