Last Tuesday 19 hardy and waterproof souls headed out from the Folk House to do a lot of good! Our 'divide and conquer' strategy was bold but simple - split in to two groups and do two tasks.

The rain had been coming and going all day, and the temperature was that annoying 'shall I wear a coat or not' type of coolness; the group was pretty split over what to wear.

We headed off and saw ahead some dark menacing clouds, so the mantra 'it never rains for Good Gym' got repeated many times. It did rain a little but not that badly at all, so given the weather for the rest of the day, we got off very lightly!

After about 20 minutes of running, we stopped in the middle of a giant roundabout and split in to two groups. Group one headed off to the Easton Energy house, and group two ran up Church Road to help clear a site of tarmac.

Group one was enchanted by the beautiful bright 'Warmup Bristol' house aka the Easton Energy house. It's designed to showcase a host of energy saving, heat containing features often needed in Bristol's Victorian terraces. We headed out to the back garden where there will shortly be some raised beds for local schools and other groups to garden in - first though the space needed to be prepared, and that's where GoodGym came in.

We got stuck in to the task with spaces, forks and trowels and soon had cleared almost all of the space that was to be given over to the new beds. All the time we were serenaded by a blackcap (I'll pop in a picture so you know what I'm on about!). We then had a little look around the house before heading back to the Folk House for stretching out. Well done Easton Energy ladies! Good running and superb gardening skills!

As for group two.... watch this space (or look at the pictures of all the hard work!):

Group 2 galloped up Church road until they arrived at a raised bed complete with a local group of enthusiastic Redfield residents breaking up a layer of tarmac using spades, forks and pickaxes. After a quick briefing and donning some gloves, the GoodGymmers formed into an impressive line. In the blink of an eye, a rapid game of pass the (tarmac) parcel ensued, with runners collecting stones, and passing them along the line to be thrown by the last person into skip.

As barrow after barrow of tarmac was cleared and loaded into the skip, the uncovered surface was raked to provide good ground for planting. The plan for the area moving forward is to create a new seasonal wildflower meadow, and it's now in great shape for the residents to get started.

Great job by everyone in group 2 for surviving the slightly longer (8.5K) run, and moving a lot of stones in short amount of time! You ROCK!

Still watching?

A report should come soon from Chris L!

Lastly, a massive and well deserved 'CONGRATULATIONS' to Richard G who made this his 50th run! WOO!