We have done a few jobs for the Friends of Tolson and Ravensknowle and also for the Lepton Croquet Club based at the park bowling green in the past, so with the offer of a croquet lesson, and the Friends' monthly gardening group meeting on a Saturday at 10am, it seemed the ideal opportunity for a Community Mission and a fun social too.

On Friday, Huddersfield had the good news that our local poet Simon Armitage has been appointed Poet Laureate. So here is a quick sum up of our morning in verse:

4 GoodGym headed to Ravensknowle To help get the weeds under control And then they played croquet They learned the rules okay But must call it a hoop not a goal!

Before the gardening fun, some did the local 5k parkrun. Some of us even spun on our bikes after to Tolson.

Our host Ann had a plan and lots of weeding to be done in the sun. Soon we were digging up dastardly dandelions, scrubbing seeding sycamores and tearing out twisted thistles. It took an hour but soon our flower beds were looking fancy. Then started a shower! So we retired for a cup of tea until the weather decided to be sunny. We did our best only to weed the weeds as we try to do good deeds while having no particular expertise. Our host was most happy and we had earned our beverage and biscuits!

Next we were welcomed by Margaret, our good friend from Lepton Croquet. She expertly explained the rules to the GoodGym croquet fools. In no time we were paired up with the Lepton pros, and squared up for some competitive ball and hammer game play.

We were really quite good (when the balls rolled where they should!). We even scored some goals, or is it holes? No no oops! I mean hoops! We could have played all day, but finally hail stopped play. A crazy storm we retired to the warm. No need to risk it - more time for a biscuit!

Our GoodGymmers today were regulars Ben, Kati, Saul and Louise. We had a great morning helping out the Friends of Tolson and Ravensknowle and some of us may even return for some evening summer croquet. It was really fun to play, devilishly tactical, and the Lepton Croquet group were extremely welcoming!