Rather unusually for a task we had to ‘break in’ to this one, with a saw, cutting back a thorny rose tree to gain entry to the garden we were tasked with clearing. Yes this week our group run was to St Paul’s C of E school where the long abandoned caretakers garden needed some serious attention from our group of seven GoodGymers.

We were glad to welcome new GoodGymer Zander at our meeting point at the Quaker Centre, and ran 2.5km to the task.

Once into the garden it was clear why our help was needed. The garden was littered with broken pots, dozens of growing bags full of old compost, overgrown spiky palms and a greenhouse full of dumped items.

Once again it’s amazing what a group can achieve in an hour. Luckily the school had got a skip and boy did we get to work filling it. Emily did a sterling job cutting back the worst of the spiky plants with Claire adding the cuttings to growing compost pile. Dave, Zander and Tom focussed on the top half of the garden, in particular the greenhouse which was transformed. Emma and Rachel went back and forth to the skip with the wheel barrow.

We gladly salvaged lots of items - ceramic pots, trays, a bird feeder and a lawn mower - which the school’s gardening club intend to put to good use. Hopefully now they have a clearer space they can work with.

We took a different 2.5km route back to base for a welcome stretch and cool down led by Emma who has hopefully now passed her GoodGym fitness leader training! Well done Emma and congratulations on achieving 50 good deeds as well this evening. You're an asset to GoodGym, thank you for all your support and enthusiasm.