What a time it's been, the past FIVE years have flown by in a haze of volunteering, fun and great NEW friends. By taking part in goodgym we are given the opportunity to get active, do good, meet new people and see the good side of our community through the groups that we engage with.

We started our week of celebrations with a party in the park on Saturday, games, food and of course goodgym FUN. Now, for the actual group activity which we always have on a Tuesday here in Cardiff.

Tonight, we were helping out again with our friends at Cwtch Together to clear their outside area ready to be used for the Jubilee Garden Party. We had slabs to move, a BBQ to move, weeds and rubbish to bag up ready to go, and a Mud Kitchen to build - what a workout we can have in store.

18 of the crew turned up tonight, including some of the originals WELCOME BACK.

It was going to be a good 5km round trip, and the weather was on our side as the skies cleared and the sun beamed down upon us.

It was a nice route, some park, some streets and then another park - scenery, friends and chatting always help on a run / walk. Once there, we split into groups and got straight to work, plenty of weight lifting with the slab crew, a nice quieter task for the weed brigade and the rubbish rebels simply hit everything. Whilst outside was a hub of activity, the Mud gang made their way inside to make a start on the build.

But wait.........who's this?

A surprise guest arrived to have a look at the great things that goodgym are doing here in Cardiff, and what a pleasure it was. Can you spot them in the photos?

Nearly out of time so a quick..

Tools down, a quick tidy up and just time for a photo or 20, we may have got overly excited with the cutout.

A huge thanks to all the members, past, present and future - you are the reason for our survival and continuation with the support and time that you give.

Diolch yn fawr

Keep an eye out for us on the streets and maybe join us sometime soon.

Back to our friends at 'Forget me not' cafe who today had been planting some new displays as well as the usual get together. We met in split groups today, those wanting a bit more of a run at Bigmoose a lovely coffee shop on Frederick Street (visit it if you get the chance). Those wanting a shorter distance met at Penylan Library where we ran to pick them up and finally cyclists met us directly at the location.

As we arrived we were met with smiles and tasks ready, outside we needed to get watering everything that we could see. Inside the tables needed removing and putting away, chairs stacking, floors mopped, chairs put back out ready for the Church that allows it's use as a community space and finally vacuum the carpet. Just a few things then...

Ready, Set GO!

It was all hands on as we started, using chairs and tables as weights, then as soon as the floor was clear decisions, decisions.....who's mopping? Jamie took the lead, whilst everyone else had a quick break, but not for long. As soon as floor was free it was time to start putting the chairs back in order, they needed to be in rows and hoked together.

Outside there was some watering action going on, hose pipes and watering cans giving the freshly planted flowers a good drink of water.

Soon enough it was the last push as the vacuum cleaners got to work on the aisle carpets, the ever trusting Henry (Hetty also available) and the strangest sounding machine I think we had ever heard. Once done we had enough time for a bit of a chat and some wonderful treats before heading back.

It was a nice total 6km all in all

Not the Start to Spring that we had last week as a wet weathered Wales emerged from the grey evening sky.

Not to be beaten by the rain, 8 eager goodgymers stayed strong and committed to the cause, and tonight that would be the wonderful YMCA shop on Colchester Avenue.

For those taking on the full run - a nice 7km, with our usual relaxed start closer to the task and a lovely 1 mile.

Lots to talk about tonight with Easter break just around the corner and for most a luscious long weekend, an opportunity to see family and friends in some (hopefully) better weather. Once at the task there was just enough time to rehydrate - Always important when being active, and now to get our volunteer muscles worked out. We had three tasks on the go,

• A load of new records to sort
• A library of books to arrange and sticker
• The usual sorting of donations ready to transfer to the other shops in Cardiff

Hannah was first to jump straight at the books, with three jobs on the go. If the books could be sold, then a YMCA sticker went on ready to be added to the library of books with a great deal of 6 for £1...

Andrew and Karolina were our 'record breakers' getting to work on the cage of records to be sorted, some reminders of the past in there.

Finally, the rest of the group hit the donation tables. Four cages of bagged donations to get through, with sanitiser and gloves ready and after a quick talk through, we were off. Anything that was not good enough for resale was bagged up for recycling with as little waste as possible.

The time went as quickly as ever and it was soon time to stop, but not before a quick bit of time to SHOP. A few items purchased and a quick group photo and we were off, returning to the city. Not the Start to Spring that we had last week as a wet weathered Wales emerged from the grey evening sky.

Not to be beaten by the rain, 8 eager goodgymers stayed strong and committed to the cause, and tonight that would be the wonderful YMCA shop on Colchester Avenue.

For those taking on the full run - a nice 7km, with our usual relaxed start closer to the task and a lovely 1 mile.

Lots to talk about tonight with Easter break just around the corner and for most a luscious long weekend, an opportunity to see family and friends in some (hopefully) better weather. Once at the task there was just enough time to rehydrate - Always important when being active, and now to get our volunteer muscles worked out. We had three tasks on the go,

• A load of new records to sort
• A library of books to arrange and sticker
• The usual sorting of donations ready to transfer to the other shops in Cardiff

Hannah was first to jump straight at the books, with three jobs on the go. If the books could be sold, then a YMCA sticker went on ready to be added to the library of books with a great deal of 6 for £1...

Andrew and Karolina were our 'record breakers' getting to work on the cage of records to be sorted, some reminders of the past in there.

Finally, the rest of the group hit the donation tables. Four cages of bagged donations to get through, with sanitiser and gloves ready and after a quick talk through, we were off. Anything that was not good enough for resale was bagged up for recycling with as little waste as possible.

The time went as quickly as ever and it was soon time to stop, but not before a quick bit of time to SHOP. A few items purchased and a quick group photo and we were off, returning to the city.

Welcome to our ALBUM cover edition........

Tonight, we returned to the wonderful group of 'Forget me not Cafe' who had met to take advantage of the light evenings and get some seed planting on the go. It will not be too long until they are out in the gardens planting up and making a wonderful display.

Our task tonight was three-fold,

1. Clean up the community space in the Church, pack away the tables, vacuum the carpets and put the chairs back ready for Church usage.
2. Secateurs on the go - and dead head ahoy to the no longer blooming daffodils.
3. Finally, using up the space in the raised planters to plant some gladioli bulbs.

FACT

Gladioli is Dame Edna's favourite flower

We split into groups tonight, those that ran the full 5 km from the city centre and back again, those who made a 2 km who we picked up along the way and the final meeting at the task. Once there we again split into three groups, but this time for the tasks at hand. And once split we wasted no time going full throttle getting everything done, and with time to spare at the end to chat without hosts about the upcoming events that were due - followed of course by the helping had of Cardiff goodgym afterwards to clear.

Party rings all around, and on a full sugar high it was time for a quick photo - album cover style before we made our ways back home / to town for a little social.

A lovely evening and a lovely bunch of people, what more do you need on a Tuesday?

Why not join us next week for more fun and frolics......?

Sign up HERE

This week we met outside Big Moose, to be a little closer to the task - making it a nice 2 miles of active travel each way.

Our chat today consisted of blancmange (tedious link to a future task), so here are some facts about blancmange.

1. The origin is unknown, but one of the oldest recipes is German.
2. The traditional recipes included ingredients like almond milk or milk, shredded chicken or fish, and sugar.
3. The typical Blancmange recipe consists of nearly 393 calories including 45% fat, 14% protein, and 12% carbohydrate.

We set off on our straight 2 miles to the task, on the way came another conversation - argos moving into Sainsburys, what's the point?

Tonight we were on our way to help at StarGarAllot Community Allotment, we have been helping here for several years now so it seemed fitting to be back to celebrate the clocks going forward giving us back our light evenings. Over the years we have seen the site develop and grow, we've made pathways, built sheds, and seen them awarded the green flag award. Our task today, to dig over the plot ready for planting potatoes, and move as much of the bags of gravel back onto the site as possible.

TO WORK

First we all had to get together and move the cold frame from on top of the soil, the cold frame was actually once the roof to the old greenhouse that we dismantled on a previous task. Once moved, Jamie and Michael made their way to start shovelling the gravel, one barrow at a time. After several wheelbarrows each, two of the bags were ready to be dragged over to their new location - today was a cross-fit kinda task

Meanwhile, Emily, Flo, Lydia and Su were busy with forks, turning and loosening the soil and removing and large weeds. Having an amazing time as they discovered an array of goodies from their digging, there's always something when you dig on this plot. It was a bit of a fight to finally get everyone to stop digging, as it became something of a treasure hunt, but we did finally down tools and get our group photo in.

Quick time so some plums, cake and fruit tea, before heading home for the evening. There's plenty more listed for the next two months, so get choosing your volunteer tasks for April & May and we will see you then.