On the hottest day in 2022 (so far), ten GoodGymers came out to enjoy the warm weather with a group run to Thorlands for their monthly session with Simon.

Five out of the ten met at Old Spike Roastery for the group run as the other five opted to meet us there as four cycled and one walked over. Since it is Pride month throughout the month of June, Sam was giving out Pride badges that he "stole" from his work.

After a brief speech to Benjamin, Daryl, Emma and Paulin and a quick warm-up out on the green, our ice-breaker question tonight was a simple one and since it was a hot day: What is your favourite type of ice cream or ice lolly?

We had various flavours from chocolate sorbet to coconut and from Magnum Caramel to Fruit Pastilles. There were also loads of chocolate, coffee and pistachio ice cream lovers too.

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Mulching and chopping back

There was meant to be a newbie coming along, but once it reach 18:50, we departed for the hills and across over to Thorlands covering 2.8k in 16 minutes.

We were met by Emma, Lindy, Nathan, Olive and Rebecca who cycled or walked over. Simon did not need to do any intros as everyone had been, so we collected the tools and headed to the Kitchen Garden to access the Forest Garden.

There were a couple of jobs to be done. Firstly, Simon took away Rebecca and Paulin as they had to prepare the cardboard and leaf mulch to put down near the compost heap.

Emma, Emma, Daryl, Lindy and Olive focused on clearing the terrace of buddleia and brambles whilst Benjamin and Nathan dug out weeds and roots as they prepared the ground for the next set of cardboard and leaf mulch, which will be put down on the weekend.

The 40 minute session went quite rapidly with a summer playlist playing in the background. We had time to take a group photo and put back the tools, but we had to rush off to ensure we finished the group run on time. The cyclists and walker (Lindy) went their own way home.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! It was quite warm and one to note for future group runs - bring water! Thank you for getting stuck into the tasks and we're slowly maintaining Thorlands Community Garden whilst the overall vision is being implemented.

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Thank You Simon

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon for keeping this regular monthly session with us. It is great to see the progress and we'll continue this on Saturday.