On a bright sunny autumnal day 8 jolly GoodGymers went to Cafe Connect in Easton to help a group of community volunteers, who were being documented for a BBC TV show, shift a load of unwanted items from the back yard into a skip so that the space could be used by local youth groups to meet.

It happens once in a blue moon, but this afternoon the planets aligned and the Bristol GoodGym crew were offered a bonus round. Once we had finished helping out at the Felix Road Adventure Playground the organisers asked if any of us would like to head to another site they were working on just up the road. Being keen runner beans a large group of us said yes and headed up to Cafe Connect in Easton.

On arrival we were met by a group of lovely volunteers who had been busy tidying up a large walled yard. The place must have been a tip before they started as they had moved all of the mess into two tidy piles in the middle, and the piles were huge. Once they had moved all of the mess away from the walls they were able to clean them down and paint them white. Our job was to help them load as much of the waste into a skip that was due to arrive very shortly.

As soon as the bemused skip driver arrived to the hubbub of joyous volunteers we went to work forming a line to pass the waste out and then packing it as tightly into the skip as possible. There were puns galore flying around, it was like a punsderstorm! My personal favourites being Nick shouting "I've been framed!" while holding up an old window pane, and when I said "that's put it to bed" when the final item, a knackered old mattress, was plonked on top of the skip (it's good to laugh at your own jokes right!?)

Once the skip was at full capacity our job was done. We said our goodbyes to the wonderful people of Easton and headed off to Vivo to eat cake and drink tea in preparation for our third task of the day which still lay ahead.

I would like to thank Pru for allowing me to add this as a bonus deed for the day and giving me the opportunity to gain my 200th GoodGym deed tonight. I am blessed to run with such a wonderful and thoughtful bunch of people and love every moment with you guys. Thanks also to Paul and Jon for making me the best t-shirt ever. ROCKET GAZEBOS!

See y'all soon,

Gary