This week, 9 keen GoodGym runners braved the damp conditions to run a solid 8km to Action on Hearing Loss in Twerton. This is a shared living space for people who are Deaf, Deafblind or have hearing loss. By doing some much-needed gardening we helped keep the communal spaces safe, tidy and presentable.

Welcome Kiran!

We welcomed Kiran for her first run with GoodGym and did a quick headcount where everyone shared their name and their favourite animal. We don’t get many platypuses in Bath, but that didn’t stop it being one of our favourites! After a quick warm-up to get our bodies ready for the 4km run ahead, we got on our way.

Most of our route to Twerton took us along the river Avon. We took in some lovely scenic views of the river as dusk was falling and we even spotted a couple of swans. As well as enjoying the views, we had a good work-out by making time to do some squats, walking lunges and some standing push-ups.

When we got to our destination we received a warm welcome from our host, Evan. We have a great relationship with Evan and he was excited to have us back again! Evan took us to their equipment shed and distributed some gardening tools before heading us round to where we would be gardening.

Cutting-hedge technology

Ollie and Allie did an excellent job trimming back some bushes. They had grown a lot since our last visit and needed several inches chopped off their front-facing side to make them even and stop them taking over the car park!

What a sweep thought

Jaxx and Emma spent part of the task working hard together to sweep and shovel the hedge trimmings into the wheelbarrow to be disposed of. There was lots of garden waste being cast around and we left the ground clear and tidy at the end thanks to their efforts!

We’ed not want to be anywhere else right now!

Not shy of getting their hands dirty, Emily, Catrin and Kiran were down on their knees pulling up lots of pesky weeds that had smothered the flower bed.

Having a wheely good time

As well as kindly using her Signing skills to act as our point of contact, Pascale volunteered for wheelbarrow duties. We filled the wheelbarrow several times over and each time Pascale navigated her way to the compost heap to dispose of all the waste for us.

Special thanks to Pascale for using her Signing skills to help us communicate and get the task done. Thanks (and well done!) to Ollie for this weeks pun! And thanks also to Ollie for kindly offering to backmark for us last night.

Coming up:

• Next week we are running to Cleveland Pools to develop the grounds ahead of a special visit.
• We have a Community Mission on Sunday 7th October at Prior Park Landscape Garden. Not one to miss!