Always a lovely task. The first job was to get the tree in the barrel and upright. Then rock in around the Christmas tree to stop the lean. Is it straight… maybe. Next the two sets of lights were expertly weaved around and perfectly arrived at the plug.

After some refreshments we set about putting the decorations on and we were done. I think you’ll agree it looks splendid. Merry Christmas Everyone.

Until next time…

Six Goodgymers rocked up at the church to help put up the Christmas Tree, something that is becoming a bit of a tradition each year.

The first job was to get it upright and into the barrel without it tipping over. This involved the judicious placing of rocks and a keen eye for uprightness. Luckily we put the star on at this point… it’s straight ish I think.

Next were the Christmas lights. A white set and a multicoloured set. One set gets turned on before Christmas and the other set after. There were a lot of lights to put up but with a mixture of ladders, brooms and spinning people they all went up and looked tree-mendous (sorry). All that was left to do was put on the decorations and we were done 🌲

Until next time :)

With the wind howling outside this was the perfect task to be doing today. We made our way inside the church to look at the tree we were going to put up and decorate. It didn’t look that big lying on the floor!

After rolling out the barrel and collecting a pile of rocks we set about the task of slowly moving the tree upright. A bit to the the left, a bit to the right? Is it tilting? Quick put the rocks in the barrel to stop it moving!

Next was the lights, so many lights to put up. Sometimes the ladder was used sometimes a casual fling and other times the broom technique was administered. Coloured lights and white lights that would be turned on at different times. Finally the advent decorations were put on… but wait, is that a rope coming down from the ceiling? One last job to hang some decorations from the ceiling.

After the decorations were finished we admired our work (not too wonky!) with an assortment of biscuits.

Well done everyone for making it out on this blustery day. Until next time :)

The Goodgym elves divided and conquered the roads of Redland and the surrounding area to get St Alban's Christmas post delivered.

We battled dark paths, cross dogs and snappy letterboxes to successful deliver hundreds of leaflets and made a good dent in their outgoing mail!

Huge welcome to Penny and Abi who came along for their first Goodgym task this evening :-)

6 runners helped St Albans Church put up their 12 foot Christmas Tree.

For the second year in a row GoodGym Bristol turned up to help turn on the lights. We (smugly) recalled all the mistakes we made last year (i.e. putting the tree up with no decorations and then realising we couldn't reach to put the star on or light up the top half) and formulated a cunning plan.

While it was supine; we put decorations on (most of them fell off), we wrapped a string of lights around the top half (most still ended up on the bottom), and we put the star on the top (it fell off when we hoisted the tree up). Undaunted, we lifted the tree into place, and using ladders, what looked like a shepherd's crook from the nativity play, and throwing arms, we got lights, decorations, and star in place for December 1st.

What a task - or should I say tasks? Two big groups of Saturday runners took a hilly route up to St. Alban's Church, led by Alice and backmarked by Gary and Dave. Before we set out, we gave a big welcome to Ruth and David who were completing their first run with GoodGym and Zdeni who was completing her 50th. Upon arrival, we got stuck in to not just 1 but 4-5 tasks - depending on how you count.

One group headed out with fliers and seemed to really be working up a sweat heading to all the surrounding streets. A second group set about raking and gathering leaves to tidy up the church grounds. A third, very crafty, group made christmas tree ornaments out of old christmas cards. Clo and Ruth hung the shooting star. Finally a fifth group helped to put up the Christmas tree, decorate it and trim the leftover branches for wreath-making. Needless to say, watching the tree go up and be slid across the floor was a bit nerve- wracking!

Technically a sixth tasks seemed to be enjoying the nice hot Ribena and biscuits provided by the church. They way back was thankfully mostly downhill and we ended with a run through a human tunnel of GoodGymers.

Thank you to all the runners for their efforts. All in all, it was a very festive start to December!