Such a lovely evening for a jog and clearing of the graves;)!

Arrival and The Hill of Hell As usual most of us met at the lovely Greenleaf Rd church, was great to see last minute sign-ups! Once we got everyone we went through a warm up of jumping jacks, high knees, arm rotations and dynamic lower body stretches. As usual we took off a bit faster so I will definitely need to remember to slow everyone down to ease into it:) We did a short route through forest road to The Hill of Hell otherwise known as Hurst Road - it ain't pleasant but I think everyone secretly (very very deep inside) was proud of getting to the top and carrying lightly jogging, truly warmed up at this point! We arrived at the churchyard where lovely Tim met us and explained what we needed to do with all tools prepped and ready for us.

Foxxy troubles Whilst we were getting our briefing about the task we noticed a fox lying down very close around 2 meters away - it was a beautiful furry fella but he was not super afraid of us (always a sign of concern) and then started to limp away. It is a mating season for foxes so there's been a lot of fighting between males leading to these kind of injuries. I consulted a few nature experts and they advised that there's a likelihood of healing on its own within a few weeks so no need for Fox Rescue at this stage. Fingers crossed for Mr Foxxy, it was just so heartbreaking to see this little fella limping.

It was Grave! - getting the task done Once the foxy drama was put aside we got on with the job by cutting down brambles and clearing ivy off the gravestones. Lots of squatting and arm strengthening here! As usual on these sort of tasks we also talked about variety of topics but one in particular was wild garlic and whether we smelled it or was that the weed that was permeating the air from a nearby group no doubt!:) The presence of wild garlic usually indicates a site of ancient woodland and St Mary's churchyard certainly qualifies as such as well as the other place we help at St Peters. We were discussing all the different things you can make with this lovely plant but Rachel's shared recipe is the winner - wild garlic and cheddar scones.

Cycle Sisters & Brother visit It was great to get a thank you or two from passers-by appreciating us taking care of this community space. One group of passers-by were three cyclists that I recognised from my JoyRiders rides - these were the ladies from the Cycle Sisters - a fantastic organisation that encourages muslim women to cycle. They were accompanied by a Cycle Brother as well! We chatted for a bit explaining what we do and how GoodGym works and who knows we might convince them to come along to the session one day!:)

Cooling down whilst stretching down The task was over in no time, so we packed up, locked up and jogged back! This time we enjoyed going downhill, taking a shorter route back to the base where we had a good stretching session and a chat.

Great session everyone - well done for coming along and bringing your great energy to this group session!