We returned to Waterloo park, probably for the last time this year as the nights close in to help prepare the ornamental flower beds for the winter. Our task was to shift mulch from the bottom of the hill to the top where it was being raked over the flower beds. The Grand Old Duke of York would have been proud as we marched (barrowed?) our way to the top of the hill and down again. Paul was first off the blocks followed by a chain of barrows piloted by Elizabeth, Mark, Cheska, Sophie, Sam and Penny (completing her 10th mission!!), whilst Jonathan did the spadework at the bottom. The friends of the park were pleased with the results and have promised GoodGym a high tea in the summer as a thanks for all the work we’ve done for them this year! It’s always a lovely task at Waterloo park and roll on being able to help them again!

Having arrived 5 minutes late, I ran into the Waterloo car park to find a large group of socially distanced Goodgym members in bright red t-shirts eager to get on with the task on what was a lovely sunny evening, however there was no task co-ordinator in sight! Bill and Helen investigated and within minutes returned followed by people with wheelbarrows.

A brief discussion of the tasks was delivered with the first task being to paint the pavilion black with five people needed, so Ian, Darren, Helen, Mark and Elizabeth eagerly volunteered and went off to do that task. Whilst Andy, Cheska and Penny searched for places to secure their bikes and Robert helped remove two wheelbarrows off of a car, the rest of the Goodgymers cracked on with the second task which involved shovelling mulch into wheel barrows to be transported to near the pavilion. This task definitely put the GYM in GoodGYM.

With Katy, Jess and Stephen on shovelling duties, it was down to Bill, Cheska, Penny, Andy, a task co-ordinator (whose name I didn’t catch) and Robert to transport the mulch, pushing wheelbarrows up a surprisingly exhausting incline towards the pavilion. Jonathan cracked on with spreading the mulch, whilst Andy later joined in with the mulch spreading fun!

Thanks to the task-coordinators who provided gloves, water and much encouragement!

With the sun setting, it was time for everyone to meet up with their wheelbarrows near the mulched beds for a group photo (featuring Bill and Kate sitting in wheelbarrows) and then onwards towards the car park to meet the pavilion painters.

With Darren’s Goodgym top covered in black paint it was clear that the painters had been very busy too! We were joined by a fellow Goodgym member called Ali who popped by to say hello whist Bill and Kate kindly provided grapes and raspberries. Andy had a little surprise for us as he shared his and Rute’s wedding album for everyone to read and share memories about Rute.

After last Monday’s visit to Waterloo Park, the weather today had seen torrential rain, fortunately come 6pm the sky’s were clear and the evening was balmy. We welcomed Sam to her first Goodgym tonight. Our task tonight at both sides of the pavilion old flower beds to be dug up. We Divided into 2 groups, and set to the tasks. beds had to be stripped of the bushes, not an easy task, at one stage it took 4 Goodgymers to finally take out 1 Bush. The other group were doing similar task, and they had a visit from Goodgymer Beks and her new puppy Emry who defiantly stole the show. He’s now our GG mascot ❤️ After an hour of hard work on both sides we had cleared all the beds needed. We gathered up tools and rubbish sacks and assembled for a group photo. I had been given some Run With Pride medals to give out which we were all excited about, especially Andy who was going to wear his as a medallion. The Friends of Waterloo Park, as always were VERY pleased with our work tonight and will be arranging another task or two for us very soon. Thanks to Mel and Johnathan for photos

The friends of Waterloo Park had some more gardening for this GoodGym Norwich Community Mission 🌱

It was a really hot day but slightly cooler by the time we met at 6.15pm. Hannah joined us for her first mission ever, so it was lovely to welcome her along 😊

Jean, who runs the friends of Waterloo Park, met us by the community flowerbeds and gave us a couple of tasks to get going on. We were separated into two groups for social distancing, and we made our way, either side of the pavilion.

One group were tasked with digging the overgrown beds and the other group were asked to separate soil from grass on some dryed out turf. 🌞 The sun had been beating down and the soil was so dry, you literally couldn't see us for dust! 😂

The time flew by, as usual, and we got a whole lot of gardening completed 😊 Great job everyone!

Another week of warm, sunny weather and another great turnout.

We had 4 new GoodGymers so a big welcome to Jonathan, Raffaella, Jennifer and Kevin.*

Elliot was completing his 25th good deed!

Andy and Helen shared back runner duties with the latter also being responsible for photography.

Darren was walk leader.

Tonight we were visiting the lovely Waterloo Park and were greeted by Jean and her great team of volunteers who look after the gardens there. I was sure to remind people to say "Hi Jean" on arrival... if only there was a Vera to say "Aloe" to and a Primrose to say "Evening" to as well.

We had a Community Mission here several weeks back and it's great to see the flower bed that we cleared has now been planted with lovely flowers and plants. It's not that often we get the chance to see the final outcome of our hard work.

There were plenty more flower beds that we had the task of clearing out this evening so the team assembled with tools (we had a whole array of them to pick from) and went off to get stuck in. There was also a group edging the existing flower beds and some others weeding them.

By the end of the evening we had cleared the the remaining overgrown flower beds, once they have been planted the gardens will look phenomenal. It has a real community feel about it and some of the local children are growing sunflowers in one of the other flower beds.

I look forward to going to have a look later in the summer to see how pretty it is.

Next week we're doing a litter pick on Marriott's Way.