7 Goodgymmers met at the Mencap Society hub in Highview House.

Colin, our task owner, and hardworking volunteer at Mencap showed us the front garden which needed tidying up. There were trees to trim, shrubs to shear, weeds to wrangle and leaves to sweep, plenty to keep us busy!

Tony set to work tackling the bigger trees and brambles, while Ben took charge of sweeping the leaves from the paths. Viv took aim at the front of the garden cutting back the overhanging plants. Didem, Anna and Anne-Laure and Jess set to work on the weeds, all not entirely sure what should be pulled out!

In just 30 minutes the team had made a huge difference to the area and the change was clear to see. The rest of the time was then spent tidying up the clippings and getting more of the pesky weeds out! Two full green bins later the team had done a superb job.

Colin invited us in for tea and cake and to see the members who were their for their Wednesday night club. It is such a lifeline to many people in the community and it was great to be able to help them.

9 Goodgymers and 1 head of the PTA made their way to all saints school for a round of hole digging for the planting of trees by the children, bin emptying followed by the collection of nearly 2 hippo bags full of leaves!

It didn’t go unnoticed that it was the first task Louise has lead where it didn’t rain! which has clearly now jinxed the coming tasks

A play on the scooters found in the bike storage ensured that we were entertained and warmed up nicely before we all made our way home to warm up frozen toes and noses!

7 Goodgymers met up in the cool, dark Oaken Grove park to help task owner Catherine move a big pile of wood chips from one end of the park to another.Special shoutout to Juli who walked over a mile with her wheelbarrow and shovel as there may not have been enough for everyone (cue collective gasp).

Sorry Juli, but the plan had changed. The gentleman who manages the park grounds had offered Catherine to transport the wood chips in his truck, saving us multiple trips with wheelbarrows. No one does improv better than GoodGym-ers; gloves on, we got to work. With head torches and steaming breaths, we were a sight in the dark parking lot!

Rachel, Angela, Ben, Juli and Diya got shovelling wood chips onto the truck while Amy and Sophie hauled themselves up on the truck to spread and stomp to make room. Ringo, the man's dog supervised, albeit a bit fearfully.

We managed to fill up and complete two truckloads in the hour and the pile was impressively smaller. Everyone was nice and warm by the time we said goodbyes. Hope there aren't too many sore muscles tomorrow.

10 Goodgymers made their way to Nature's Haven where we met with Claire, our taskowner, who was already setting up the firepit and stringing up the lights. It promised to be a good night! In preparation for an important visitor in a few days days time, we had lots of jobs to do. In typical Goodgym fashion, everyone set to work on our various tasks. One group weeded an area and transplanted some hellebores, while others tidied the spare pots. Meanwhile others dug trenches in a bed and planted a row of box plants after first sawing off half their roots to ensure they fitted in the holes. Others weeded the beds and paths, and Ben proved to be very handy with the broom, leaving everything neat and tidy. We were rewarded with hot chocolate and marshmallows to toast over the firepit. Fantastic. Great work, Goodgym

The team assembled on site, with a small group having walked together and everyone else making their own way.

We were met by Jon who showed us the stacks of bulbs for planting and instructed us to fill the areas with as many bulbs as possible and then with any left put them in the flowerbeds in the playground.

Everyone armed themselves with tools and bulbs and got to work making a whole lot of holes and bedding the bulbs in!

Although all our work was hidden below ground we hope we will be able to see the fruits of our labour in the spring!