A beautiful day greeted us on the banks of the Avon for out monthly surfers against sewage. The grass was long but we used our pickers to wade through to discover a host of litter. So much large hard plastic was collected today. We did the 2 barrow load rubbish trek back to the drop off point and then after a final snap we were of to the Waterside cafe for some home made goodies. Did Emma buy another rose? Great work everyone it makes such a difference 👏

Camouflage was the name of the game at Brunswick Cemetery Gardens this Bank Holiday Monday with GoodGymmers hiding high and low amongst the vast expanse of weeds that have sprung up in the warm (-ish) and definitely damp spring.

David, as ever, took things to the extreme, helped along by Frances reliving her childhood escapades of attaching sticky bud to fellow humans.

Ruben and Jakub disappeared with Di on the hunt for bindweed to unravel amongst the rose bushes, Helen, David, Janka and Jason joined Jo on a mission to rediscover the grave and path at one of the entrances whilst Melanie was joined by Frances to de-buttercup and de-bindweed a side bed.

Most of us then moved to the main area of the park to concentrate on bindweed and buttercup seed heads as the dumpy sacks were too heavy for any more soil from paths.

When it was time to finish up, the normal warnings weren’t heeded at all and the Choir Master, Frances suggested either continually singing the Countdown theme or The Final Countdown, the latter earworm going very well until the bit where the words actually start.

Everyone then decamped for coffee and/or lunch after dropping the tools to Di’s lockup, Elemental was closed, Cafe Kino was full but The Canteen had a big outside table and a lovely menu to choose from so the fun and chat continued addressing such top philosophical debates as “is there a market for secondhand epilators”.

Thanks for the extra photos, Helen. See you all tomorrow!

It was lovely and summery when we met at Queens Square, welcoming Will and Osama to their first ever group run plus Ryan and Ruben back for their second.

The 8 runners set off, led by Richard B who bravely made sure there was some health and safety to go with the pick axe we were trusted with and remembered to take a before photo - thank you!

The 3 walkers were hot on their heels and really impressed with the pond digging as they set about distributing woodchip to the paths and bricks artistically laid around the planted areas otherwise lost among the tall grass - well done, Jason.

Caroline and Valè joined our four newest GoodGymmers shifting the soil, stones and bricks out of the newly designated pond area after Jordan had made short work of pick-axing the somehow-still-dry ground to loosen it up and make the mounds for landscaping.

Two good reasons for tidying up were to get out of the rain and to eat lovely cake and admire all the hard work.

Richard G and Melanie got totally soaked on the walk back despite Richard's very big umbrella.

Well done, everyone - I'm pretty sure the pond would be full by now with this rain if we'd had a pond liner!

The Scrapstore needed our help, and 17 GoodGymers answered the call! We welcomed Ryan, Ruben and Kieran to their very first Group Run this evening and we hope they enjoyed their warm welcome this evening.

12 runners ran, 3 walkers walked and Frances and Jade appeared, worked hard, then disappeared back in to the night!

We split in to 3 teams, Ryan, Ruben, Richard G, Richard, Helen, Frances and Nell set about rolling up coloured pre-cut materials, and much debate was had about the relative density, likely uses (pirate hats, capes and yoga mats for people who abhor comfort) before filling barrels and barrels full of them!

Valè and Jason were the cutting crew. Valè proclaiming that one of the sheets reminded her of the smell from baby dolls in Argentina in the 1980's!...unpleasant! The final job was re-attaching handsets to phones. The staff had a little wager on how many we could do, and the team of Phill, Nell, Gareth, Jordan, Freya and Sebastian, surpassed their expectations, reattaching, according to Phil 'a billion!'.

We left the Scrapstore dazzled by multicoloured scrap and hope to be back soon, but also with the promise of indoor winter tasks!