Our visits to Sydney Gardens have increased in frequency this year, and since it is such a beautiful location we are all the better for it.

Sunday saw 4 dedicate GoodGymmers rock up to help once more clearing the foliage away from the two secret grottos. Now these were created in pre-victorian times - a natural reservoir collecting water from the hill was covered over with a dome, into which two entrances still exist. Their plan is to clear these entrances in order that visitors can gaze excitedly in to the 'dungeons and dragons' style caverns within.

Shout out to GoodGym Bristol as joining Bath stalwarts Cosmo and Meyrick were Bristol Area Activator Melanie and Richard; Richard of course joined us some weeks ago to help paint a pavilion in Batheaston.

Today's job was to clear more foliage, there is still much remaining. Long term, they plan to clear the rubble that has collected around these portals to the underworld but the first task is clearing a safe way to them.

We made quick work, with some excellent assistance when needed from the local pack of volunteers. There is still more to do so expect a return, and I can't wait to see what these look like when the task is completed.

Wow, this warm weather is really something. And one of the best places to experience it is at the Community Garden in Alice Park.

Only three GoodGymmers were able to make it, others I guess may be on holiday. However, the magnificent three of Cosmo, Aaron and Meyrick were issued with instructions as usual by Kathy.

This time it was to address a problem caused by visiting humans. It would seem that the lure of the apples growing on their trees was too tempting to some and they were being picked. As we all know though, apples are not ripe until later in the year, no matter how luscious they may look on the branch...

To protect against humans, we were asked to cover the apple trees with netting, making sure that it was tied safely to avoid potential trip hazards.

With the how we had, we more or less finished. There was a final section we couldn't finish in time, but it had been complicated by the only remaining netting left being not really fit for this purpose. In order to make it work some form of primitive engineering was required, and we just ran out of time.

Nevertheless, let's hope our efforts have saved the lives of the majority of the apples from the scourge of humankind, and they live to see a more productive life journey.

It's definitely summer now, after months of trying we've finally had some nice warm days and evenings to enjoy. This evening was no exception.

Five GoodGymmers arrived in the always beautiful Sydney Gardens to help clear away weeds form a really interesting area that the organisers would like to open up to the public. Cosmo, Stephen, Helen, Vicky and Meyrick were the team.

Did you know there were grottos under Sydney Gardens? Apparently back in 1794 a roof was built to enclose a natural reservoir at the top by the tennis courts. There are to gates blocking entry to this area, which as far as I'm concerned is a grotto, and the organisers want to clear the area to allow the public to view inside.

Weeding we are good at, and we made quick work of it. There will be a lot more to do to clear enough soil from the doorways in order to get to a place where the public can view through the doors into the mysteries of the grottos within, but this was a start.

Well done GoodGymmers, when this is complete we can say we helped with this.

T'was a wonderful summer Sunday, as we gathered to attend,

Another GoodGym mission, for which our hands were asked to lend,

A hand to paint a clubhouse, in lovely Batheaston,

That needed a lift, with some urgent redecoration.

We met at the George, but we were only a few,

Aaron and Meyrick and Becca, who to GoodGym was new,

These were the runners, heading for the task,

We jogged across countryside, over river and grass

We were initially lost, as What3Words was wrong,

But to our good fortune Becca's navigational skills were strong,

A five minute walk and we were no longer lost,

Finding the clubhouse, where we found Richard and Cos

Painting was the task, and we took to it like pros,

Rollers and brushes, magnolia and gloss,

We naturally aced it and finished the job,

And our hosts, rightly delighted, rewarded us with grub.