The weekend of the balloon fiesta saw many folks up early to watch the unfolding spectacle so it was good to see plenty arrive for our group run today. We even had a visitor from Cardiff - nice to have you along today Martin!

With the recent dry conditions, fire starting is definitely not a good option up on Narroways nature reserve but we found a rhyming equivalent up on 'Cutthroat lane' today as we helped repair a fence. We were joining one of the regular workdays run by volunteers up at the reserve and were shown how to staple the new fencing onto the existing wooden posts before reinforcing the midsections by using twisted wire to connect the new fence to the old. With a bit of practice, the quality of these twists improved noticeably over the course of the session - as can be seen in the photograph above!

But fence repair was not our sole occupation today. While one group did a fantastic job of collecting 3 or 4 bags of litter from the bottom of the hill and neighbouring community garden a third group got cracking on some brambles and unwanted ash seedlings further round the hill. Liam in particular seemed to enjoy wielding a rather savage looking billhook - and was certainly give a healthy amount of space to do said wielding by his companions!

A last minute surge of wire twisting and a few helpings of blackberry crumble meant that we began our return a little later than planned so it was a rather hurried dash back to base but there was still time for a quick coffee for anyone heading on to the GG Bristol summer BBQ later.

More than 40 GoodGymers, two locations to go to, two charities to leaflet for, plus one charity that need help with three tasks - sounds like a seemless night of GoodGym action, doesn't it?

Mina detour

One group seamlessly took on the task of leafleting for two charities around Mina Park. One was Real Economy who we have helped previously and who are keen to further spread the word about their brilliant social enterprise around Bristol. Secondly, we continued on our mass leafleting for Penny Brohn for Stomp, their sponsored walk in October. The group did a brilliant job of an extended, alternative route run, zipping all the leaflets out, having time to do a squats and lunges session and getting through most of a pint before the rest of us got back. Thank you very much Alice for your brilliant run-leading and Alex for your back-marking with sore legs!

Easton promise

Meanwhile, the rest of us trotted off to Easton to help Annali from Litterarti with clearing up an underpass in the local area. Annali explained to us that the skate park there is a really important part of the community, where lots of local young people can come and hang out. The area is not looked after by the council, so it is up to the local community to keep it in shape to discourage it from being a place of anti-social behaviour. Annali split us into groups - teams of litter pickers and recyclers went through the whole area clearing it up, collecting bags in and putting up new bags to discourage future litter. Another group brushed up the whole area to make it as safe as possible for children who play there. A third group took on the pillars: Litterarti get Street Artists in to paint these pillars, so in preparation for the next set of artists, we painted over previous graffiti and tags which had been left on the pillars.

All too soon, it was time to pack up the paint and get back on the road to central Bristol. With the knowledge that Alice's group were already safely nursing pints, there was, unfortunately, no more time for squat-stops on the way home, much to everyone's disappointment.

Are you Fi-real?

Fi achieved her 200th Good Deed on her mission on Saturday! To congratulate her on this amazing achievement, tonight Fi received her 200 Good Deeds t-shirt. Matt has once again done a brilliant job of making Fi's mermaid-likeness and goat-memories live on forever through her t-shirt (and we even got a photo of her mermaid-ing painting tonight to match). Massive well done, Fi!

Painting and a shortish run. The GG equivalent of a perfect storm. No surprise then to see 23 eager faces lined up for our pre-run warm-up.

Originally listed as a double bill, a last minute cancellation of our scheduled visit to Ashley Street park meant that team Cube was to be expanded from the planned six to our entire group. Massive thanks then to our host Pete for rustling up plenty more rollers and paint brushes in the last couple of days.

The Cube is a small independent cinema and music venue run entirely by volunteers. Over the summer the venue closes down for essential maintenance but with many of the volunteers on holiday our help was very much appreciated to help with some of the painting.

We were to paint the outside walls with a special fire retardant paint and the gents toilet floor with a non slip version.

Toilet Team

Special thanks go to the volunteers for the toilet team particularly on such a hot day and especially in the presence of an 'unidentified liquid' (presumably water as the toilets had been thoroughly bleached and disinfected before our arrival).

Wall Team

Everyone else got to work on the outside walls. Amazingly we got 17 people in action in a fairly small space and as a result we managed to finish the whole space in just over 25 minutes. I have to say it looked pretty smart by the end (as evidenced by the much happier 'after' group shot)

With the task finished in such a short time there was plenty of time for some tricep dips in the Bearpit and a quick round of Grandmothers triple extension footsteps and Squatopia on the way back.

Well done everyone - and thanks to Sarah for helping to set this one up!