Tuesday 7th July 2015
Find out about GoodGym TaskForce
35 (yes, 35) runners came to the Folk House on Tuesday for a double task run. Task one was the advertised run to a food bank to help sort cans, packets, bottles and jars for people in need of food aid in the local area. Task two was a last minute addition from the BBC (oooh, fancy!) to help them in their garden. By the way, if you just want to look at all the pictures, please do!
After warming up and introducing ourselves, we split in to two groups. Group one had a long flat run ahead of them. Group two had a short but very steep run up Park Street ahead of them.
Group one ran to the Safestore warehouse in Lawrence Hill and got stuck into what looked like preparations for a zombie apocalypse but was in fact a food bank. The team worked hard to sort, shift, weigh and stack loads of donated food, working really hard right up to the buzzer. One of the best tasks ever!
Group two headed off and shortly but out of breath-ly got to the top of Park Street, then ran past evening shoppers on the Triangle. In no time at all they were in front of the mighty BBC Broadcasting House.
We met up with Jules - a Keith Floyd type bursting with energy and only lacking a glass of fruity red- and were told about the plans between the BBC and the Avon Wildlife Trust to increase places for wildlife to live - a little green oasis in the concrete desert. They hope to make a garden suitable not only for wildlife but also for groups of school children to come and learn more about the natural world - fitting as the BBC Natural History Unit is based in Bristol!
Jules was very organised and quickly split the group in to several teams - waterers, hole diggers, woodchip spreaders, soil turners, topsoil movers, and the gang set to it, but first after trying to find adult sized gloves in a box of teeny tiny child sized mittens. We had to do the following:
Plant a row of beech trees Shift a ton of topsoil Empty as many large bags of chippings as possible out of some large bags and scatter them across new plantings Turn soil over to prepare a bed for planting Water EVERTYTHING!
Did we do it? Of course we did! Whilst there were still a few big white bags of chippings left, the amazing GoodGym runners got stuck right in (literally for the hole diggers who got a bit muddy!) and the garden gradually developed. There's still more to do but in such a short space of time a massive amount was achieved.
Bristol
Our local community farm is tidier for the enjoyment of all