We were back at Windmill Community Gardens again this week for another session.

The already expansive Gardens have grown again with the adoption of a new, wildly overgrown plot, and our host Lucy gave us a tour to start things off.

There were a few jobs to do in anticipation of their Art in the Garden event this weekend (pop along if you can!) so we quickly split up into a few groups to get as much as we could done in the time we had.

Peter started off clearing some rubbish left over from the shed removal, including a particularly foul-smelling bucket (kudos for your strong stomach, my friend!). Once that was up in the skip, he joined Leah, Nigel and brand-new GoodGymers Khiltee and Dina (Welcome!) in clearing weeds and overgrown foliage from the new children's area. Hazards included ants and other bugs and some particularly prickly bushes with very deep roots.

Rosemarie and Dayna had arguably the toughest task of lugging woodchip from the pile at the entrance right the way down to the bottom of the gardens to cover the pathways that had rotted down or become overgrown. Nigel and Khiltee also grabbed some buckets to cover the floor of the teepee and the old shed foundations.

We ended the session munching on some delicious, freshly-picked fruit!

Four Goodgymers headed back to the Windmill Community Gardens to tackle the second half of the brook

Peter, Nigel, Rosemarie and Neville ( for his GG debut - welcome aboard!) armed themselves with sturdy gloves, loppers and rakes (the scythe stayed in the shed - probably for the best!)

First job was to actually get in amongst the brambles and, with the help of Linda from gardens and a bit of crawling under the bridge we were in!

What followed was 60 minutes of hacking, lopping, raking and generally trying not to get scratched and gouged as we managed to clear most if the other half of the brook.

So satisfying to see our hard work pay off, especially as it seemed an almost impossible task. We can't wait to see what they have lined up for us next..!

It was a welcome return to the Windmill Community Gardens for four GoodGymers. Tasked with trying to clear the (almost) dried up brook of lots of overgrown brambles and ivy we all got well and truly stuck in. It’s always surprising how much we can get done in just one hour but we were about assisted by Lu and Linda (who shared her amazing knowledge of spiders) from the gardens.

So this was my second Good Gym mission, and I’m happy to say I’m feeling very accomplished. Even though it was only me this time from the Good Gym team, I had some other lovely volunteers (passionate gardeners) from around the area to work along side. With only a few of us, we managed to get A LOT of work done, and none of us were afraid to get stuck in. Team work makes the dream work!

The space will now be levelled out and have some wood chip placed over for future use (whilst keeping some much neater brambles up around the perimeter for crumble & pie purposes🥧)

Tea and other hot drinks were provided for our efforts in their beeeautiful shed, thanks to the lovely people at the Windmill Community Gardens.

Looking forward to helping out again in the future!

(Many a ladybird and one worm were rescued during this task)

Well done to Sehrish who went along to the Windmill Community Gardens to help clear up after their annual Pumpkin Day event. Tracey and the team at the WCG were extremely grateful for your help!

Well done to Stephanie who did her first GoodGym task helping set up the Pumpkin Day at the Windmill Community Gardens. Tracey and the team were very grateful for all your help (and the extra pairs of hands you took along too!).