In a deviation from the usual Monday time, four GoodGymers met at Seniors on a Thursday evening. The reason for such change: to decorate the hall and the sun room with the spooky-looking ornaments that Di had procured, in time for the Halloween celebrations. Being early to the task, courtesy of well timed buses, Darryl and Julian set out to untangle the white net and hang it down from the ceiling to make it look like spider webs. Meanwhile, I started trying to tie some string to the witch's hats so they too could be hanged from the ceiling. I had made very little progress when Jenny arrived, fresh from running over (and so being the only one who actually did the Gym bit of our title), who quickly sorted out the remaining hats.

Having established that I was useless with hats, Jenny and Julian proceeded to do the hanging bit, while Darryl and I finished off the spider webs, completing them with a good few black spiders for a realistic look.

The final touch was to spread a load of bats in and around the windows, and the whole scary job was done. All that was left to do was to get a couple of pictures, with Di managing to stay true to topic and produce the best ghostly picture this group has seen.

It was time for a trip to Senior's and after a summer of helping in the garden, it was time to move back inside which we were very glad of when we arrived at Glass Mill and it was cold and windy with signs of potential rain to come.

There was no time for hanging around, everyone was cold and we had some hills to tackle. It's always satisfying run when Senior's involved because you know you've tackled the hills twice.

On arrival at Seniors, we were greeted by Di who explained the task for the evening which was cleaning the radiators, tables, chairs and toys in the cafe. We had one strict rule to follow: no leaving water on the chairs. Last time we did this task there might've been a few soggy bottoms the next day!!

Time flies and after getting in our favourite task of the year (putting the Christmas decs up - 16th Dec) it was time to say our goodbyes and head off to either the pub or run back to Glass Mill.

There was some confusion to start with, was it Monday, was it Sunday and just where does the 386 bus go and how long does it take? Once we had resolved those queries, it was time to tackle the hilly run over to Senior's!

The garden team always have a list of jobs for us to tackle in the garden and this week was no different. First up, Julian was charged with creating a lasagne out of some compost and woodchip - it was the best compost lasagne I've ever seen! And packed full of veggies as well.

Next up, we needed to shift the last of the woodchip and add to the huge pile in the garden. We were so close but there's still the tiniest bit remaining!!

We're back at Senior's on 30th September which will likely be our last outdoor group run at Senior's until March.

Unlucky for some but not us, 13 GoodGymers gathered outside Glass Mill ready to tackle the hills to help the garden team at Seniors.

We skipped the warm up this week in favour for a steady run as a group to Seniors as it's a bit of a longer run and I'd spent too long chatting as usual!

At Senior's, Alice had a big list for us to get through which included: - watering the plants - admiring the plants in the poly tunnel after we did some hot bedding - clearing the weeds that were growing through the cracks in the building - planting tomato plants - covering the stems of the tomato plants with vaseline to protect from slugs - moving the fly tipped woodchip from the front of the building to near the poly tunnel

Anyone who wasn't there and happens to think "who would fly tip woodchip". It's the same question we thought and the same question the gardening team at Senior's though. Next time, a little request that they fly tip in a more convenient location for the gardening team. Luckily for us, it was a good workout moving it in wheelbarrows.

Most of us frequented the local drinking establishment whilst the rest of the group tackled the hills back to Glass Mill.

Big cheers for Khai who completed his longest run yet!! Amazing effort especially on those hills. We'll make sure next weeks group run is a short and flat route...it actually is!

We have a brand new group run next week to The Ladywell Unit to help in their garden. It's around 1km there so 2km in total.

Finally the sun was shining and on a group run, we'd be very happy if the sun stays for all group runs over summer now!

Onto the task for the evening, it was our monthly visit to Senior's and Alice and the gardening team had a long list of tasks that they needed our help with.

First we had to run up and over the hills to get to Seniors and when we arrived Paul had already got stuck into clearing the weeds from one of the beds.

The other tasks for the evening: - moving tables - filling the water butts - turning over a bed and planting tomato plants (and adding some worms)

It's always a lovely run back as the hills are quickly done and you get rewarded for the hills with the view at the top of Blythe Hill Fields.

Next week we have a shorter run to Luxmore Gardens to continue keeping on top of the weeding.

What is a hot bed I hear you cry!! Google kindly answered that question for me:

*A hotbed is basically a raised bed filled with layers of decomposing straw and manure or other organic matter. You then add a thinner layer of growing medium (soil/compost) on top to grow plants or seeds.

Like any other compost heap, a hotbed is built up using organic materials. Ideally, there should be a good mix of nitrogen-rich ‘green’ and carbon-rich ‘brown’ materials.*

Mo and Oli did a fantastic job of digging up all the soil before adding manure (that wasn't too stinky) and then readding the compost on top. A fun fact, our first ever group run to Senior's approximately 7 years ago (maybe longer) was hot bedding.

The rest of the team tackled a variety of other tasks including digging a trench for potatoes, digging over vegetable beds, cutting off diseased leaves from the roses and transplanting seedlings.

A great effort from every member of the team and it was soon time for a cold drink in the nearby beer garden. Not before saying farewell to Oli who was making the return journey to Glass Mill.

Next week, the bank holiday doesn't stop us and we are heading to Marsha Phoenix Trust.