First the (semi) serious bit. Two main jobs this evening. The first, sweeping the paths, which were looking distinctly autumnal covered with leaves from all the hot weather, this was expertly done by Amy. Then there was watering the beds mit hose und watering can and a smattering of weeding, which the rest of us took on with gusto!

Next, credits... thanks to Frances for the pun, which i may have messed up... and apologies to Marianne as i couldn't think of a pun with calendula!

Now for AI to finish things off as I'm home now.

Until next time...

🎵 I got hose…
I got hose…
In different garden rows (rows)…
Hose… in different rows.
Sproutin’ beans by the trellis,
Tomatoes where the sun hits best.
Carrots lined up, you can smell it,
Corn standin’ taller than the rest.
Raised beds in the backyard,
Planters by the patio door,
From cucumbers to Swiss chard,
My hose been workin’ every shore.
Yeah I keep my tools in check,
Seeds spread coast to coast,
Wherever I plant, I collect— I got hose in different garden rows.
🎵 I got hose…
In different rows…
Turnin’ soil, makin’ it grow.
Hose in different garden rows.

It was great to have Joshua finally able to join us after two inner tube incidents the previous two weeks - welcome, melon specialist!

We were due to be helping the the preparations for St Werburgh's Community Centre's Party in the Park but they weren't as far forward in the planning as they'd hoped so instead we tidied around the building and watered the plants plus testing the really-quite-narrow slide. The plant room itself was found but kept safe...

This is one of our longer walk/runs, so it was soon time for the walking group to set off, managing to get to Castle Park before the runners caught up, allowing a photo opportunity of the runners feeling the need to keep running uphill - very impressive.

Leaflets promoting the Party in the Park were distributed to shops on the way back with some more left with GoodGym locals to drop into more places over the next couple of days.

Back at Workout, we returned to last week's thrilling game of "guess Mariannes middle names" relying on the underrated strategy of knowing the last letter was in the second half if the alphabet. We eventually succeeded, but we're keeping it a secret. One middle name to go, the excitement is already at fever pitch.

The planned task may have been postponed but thats not going to stop GoodGym Bristol from helping out somewhere in the community.

Off to Brunswick it was with the sky looking like it was going to rain, as it had on and off all day and humidity high. The walkers were glad to be walking!

We're going to be at Brunswick next week, too, but this was a great opportunity to get stuck in with the grounder a bit damper and perfect for getting peaky weeds out of the spiral path as well as cutting back Jerusalem Sage that has flowered and is getting ready to spread seeds to create EVEN MORE of the lovely plant that spreads weed-like in the Cemetery.

The chopping was taken to a whole new level with the skilled removal of the shrub threatening the trellis, and some quick appreciation of the mural visible from the corner of the park before we headed back to Workout for more chat and drinks.

Same again next week?

It wasn't meltingly hot! Hooray! In contrast, those GoodGymmers who had "splashed" out on rain jackets had the first opportunity to wear them and found they're excellent at being waterproof.

Elliot joined us for his first ever Group Run/Walk having come along to a double community Mission back in Spring - we're hoping it won't be too long before he comes along to another session.

The school soon had us busy with cutting down brambles with tools of varying success - long loppers, short shears and a variety of methods to get the clippings into wheelbarrows to take downhill to the compost heap, better known as the old pond that we'd lovingly cleared if brambles a couple of years ago... At least we can come back in a couple of years to move it all again!

As ever at a GoodGym Bristol task, specialists in the doffetent tasks soon emerged - deep de-brambling by Richard B, tidy trimming by Elliot, taste testing by Frances , fork-filling wheelbarrows by Dushyant and Richard G, wheelbarrow wanderings by Ed and Vaguely Northern Darren (who also sawed some stuff he saw) and deep digging by Caroline.

Soon a small, skilled team ventured into the Forest School to dig up rogue brambles growing in there, and not to play around at all. Wheelbarrows were flying (not flying) down and up the hill to be re-filled and re-emptied, tools were lost and found, the rickety fence was revealed and James, one of the school's governors was really impressed with how much clearer the space was, for the last week of term. With many fewer blackberries as they'd either been eaten by GoodGymmers or sent down to the compost heap.

Intermittent rain was very welcome compared to the heat of the last week or so, and the browned grass will soon be lush and green, just in time for the school summer holiday!

Looking forward to clearing out the compost heap/pond when we're asked to de-bramble that, and hoping there're as many berries to eat. Until next time...