On a humid June evening, 13 GoodGym runners ran along the canal to help at Cleveland Pools. We did lots of weeding, sweeping and cutting to help keep the grounds safe and tidy. We loved being outdoors getting some exercise and helping to develop a historic part of our community at the same time.

Welcome Lucy!

We met at the leisure centre and welcomed a new runner, Lucy, to the group. Thanks for coming along and helping us out! We hope you come back again soon!

Before the warm-up I shared the latest news with the group. On Thursday we are going to St James Wine Vaults for their pub quiz. This is a great way to meet other GoodGymmers and everyone is welcome, even if you haven't been coming for long. We also have an exciting Community Mission at the weekend where we are helping out at a Scout Campsite in Weston.

To get to Cleveland Pools we took the scenic route along the Kennet and Avon canal path. Our host, Sally, gave us a warm welcome and then gave an introduction to the Pools to those of us that haven't been before. Cleveland Pools is the UK's oldest surviving Lido. It hasn't been in operation since 1980's but team of volunteers are working hard to open it up again so the public can come and swim in it. They have just received some lottery funding and are not far away from their final fundraising target. We have been before to help out around the site and there was lots of jobs for us to do again!

Our work tonight was all about tidying and maintenance. Lots of people visit the site for inspections and planning meetings and we worked hard to make sure the grounds are free of weeds and hazards to keep it safe.

Pooling our resources

Max, Libby and Tim used a variety of tools to weed the area near the entrance, including what will soon be the refurbished children's pool. There were lots of weeds growing in the cracks that they pulled up. Good work team!

Mos(s)t of the weeds were hard to get rid of!

Emily and Pascale focused their efforts on removing slippery moss and weeds around the edges of the main pool. A major health and safety point is to prevent people falling into the water and their hard work means that the walkway is safer for people to work on. Great stuff!

A treeific job!

Mark and Rob spent their evening cutting back shoots and growths on one of the larger trees. These trees are starting to get out of hand and are quickly taking over the space at the back of the grounds. It was hard work because the branches were wet and slippery but it was even more satisfying when they were done!

The name's Pond. James Pond. License to volunteer.

To remove the algae and weeds from the pond area (soon to be the centrepiece swimming pool!), Ollie and Alison used long hooks. The weeds were quite long and they found that the best technique was to 'spaghetti' the weeds and wrap them around the hooks as one would with a fork. They filled up several wheelbarrows which left the pond much clearer which Sally was really happy with.

Out of Scythe, out of mind!

To cut back the grassy areas, Lucy, Alison and Allie learned how to use a scythe to deadly effect. We were lucky enough to have one of the volunteering team there to instruct the runners how to use the scythe to rhythmically cut back the grass. Apparently you has to 'let the scythe do the work' and focus on using your core muscles. The runners managed to clear a huge patch of grass in only a short amount of time. Nice work!

'Hi-ho, Hi-ho'!

At the end of the evening Sally got us shoulder our tools and reenact the Seven Dwarves from Sleeping Beauty singing "Hi-ho, Hi-ho, It's off to work we go ...". We were delighted to help produce this for the team's marketing efforts although none of us could sing or whistle very well ... or march in time. But we had smiles on our faces and that's what's important!

Sally was really pleased with how much we managed to get done in such a short space of time. We are really proud to be a part of restoring this fantastic community asset and we can't wait until it is open in a few years time to go for a dip!

Thanks!

Thanks to Sally and her team for hosting us for the task last night and thanks to Ollie for backmarking for us. Also, thanks for Alison for the double pun this week!

Upcoming runs

• On Thursday there is the monthly pub quiz at St James Wine Vaults.
• On Sunday we have organised an exciting Community Mission helping out at a Scout Campsite in Weston.
• Next week we are helping out at St Phillps and St James' Church.

16 of us ran along to Alice Park to do some important maintenance work to the beautiful public space there. We spent a gorgeous and sunny evening running along the canal to paint some benches and sweep up the entrance to the park. We were really happy to run nearly 7km at a good pace.

Welcome Vicky and Kathryn!

We met at our usual spot outside the leisure centre, by the river. We had a good turnout tonight, including two new runners. We welcomed Vicky and Kathryn to their first run with GoodGym. Thanks for getting stuck in and helping us out last night! I hope you had fun and I hope you will be back to run with us again soon!

We took the scenic route along to Alice Park. We joined the canal path and ran by the water. It was a warm and sunny evening and we all enjoyed being outside. We paused at one point to gather our breath and managed to get some extra training in by doing some squats.

Our host, Tony, met us at the entrance to the park. Tony gave us an overview of the park and introduced the tasks for the evening. Our tasks revolved around maintaining and improving the facilities in the park. We broke into small teams to make sure we got everything done in the time we had!

We deserved a sanding ovation!

There were lots of small teams of runners painting benches. The benches are constantly exposed to the elements of English weather and haven't had a coat of paint in several years. First we sanded down the benches and then thoroughly painted them. We really let our inner-artists shine through!

We found that most of the benches drank up the paint really quickly, so we needed to give them several good coats of paint before we left. This was surprisingly more tiring that we first thought and we came away having done some good exercise.

What a sweep idea!

Several of our runners were on sweeping and tidying duty last night. The area around the cafe and entrance to the park needed a good sweep up. The area is used a great deal by community groups and all manner of leaves, rubbish and dirt builds up over time. We gave the area a thorough sweep and scooped up the rubbish for the bin. As well as making the park look tidier and appear cleaner this also makes the paths less slippery and safer for everyone to use.

I feel like we were going around in circles...

The park has recently had a circular path installed all the way around it. The path is exactly a third of a mile long and one of the purposes of the new path is to encourage more runners to come and train in the lovely outdoor space. Challenge accepted! We sent one of our speedier runners, Dan, for a lap around the path while were packing up the paint and paintbrushes. He just missed out on the course record (which is pretty good since he had been training earlier in the day and ran all the way there with us!).

We said goodbye to Tony (and his doggy, little Susie!) and thanked him for arranging for us to come along. There are plenty more opportunities for us to get involved and help improve the park so we will be back again soon, I am sure!

Goodbye, for now, Dan

We said goodbye to one of our regular runners, Dan, last night who is moving away from Bath. Thanks for all of your hard work and commitment over the past few years! Make sure to come back and visit us!

Upcoming runs

• This Saturday (25th May) we have been asked to clear a garden at a care home in Bath
• On Saturday 1st June we are gardening at Dry Arch Growers
• On Saturday 8th June there is a Community Mission to paint the children's section at Moorland Road Library
• On Saturday 8th June there is also a chance to help out at the Saltford Summer Festival
• Next week we are heading back to Alice Park to do some gardening!

15 of us ran to the Community Gardens maintained by Bath Organic Group. We did some composting and create a new bark chip path that ran around half of the garden. We had lots of fun being outdoors and were really pleased with how much work we got done.

Well done Alison!

We met outside the leisure centre and I shared the latest news with everyone. A massive well done Alison for running and doing so well in the St Illtyds Way Ultra Marathon at the weekend! I also shared a summary of a recent Community Mission where some of us ran to help set up Larkhall Community Festival. It was a lot of fun and we will be back to help them out again soon!

After a warm-up we were on our way. I lead the group through town and along Upper Bristol Road. It was a short run meaning we had more time for volunteering at the task.

We love gardening ... it really grew on us!

We met our host Tim at the gardens maintained by Bath Organic Group and he gave us an overview about the space. The garden has been running for nearly 30 years and is run completely by volunteers. They grow a variety of fruit and vegetables. Anyone is welcome to help improve and maintain the garden. They have volunteering sessions each week, on a Tuesday and a Saturday. They are a really friendly and welcoming group of volunteers who are always looking for more people to get involved.

Tim gave us an overview of our tasks for the evening and I split us into teams as we had lots of work do to!

A chip off the old block!

A big task was to create a new bark chip path around part of the allotment. There was some fantastic GoodGym team work on display here to make sure we managed to get the job done in time!

Taking a break with a rake!

Some of the volunteers were loading up wheelbarrows with chipping and whizzing them around to be laid. A team spent the evening weeding and clearing the path ready for the new chips. The final part in the production line was a team of volunteers using rakes and spades to shape and mould the new path on the newly-cleared ground.

We glove to do gardening tasks!

Our hard work here was really useful. The chipping makes the pathway clearer to people so they can see where to go (and to not accidentally walk over any plants!) and makes it safer than walking on the mud which can get slipper.y Also, the path makes the space seem much more tamed and reminds people that it is a tended community garden and not just a patch of land.

A big heap of work!

The other big task last night was sifting and working the compost heaps. There are several areas of the garden dedicated to creating compost to help the garden grow. One team worked on the compost bins by the entrance.

We learnt how there is roughly a 1-year lifecycle for the Bath Organic Group compost where any discarded vegetation usually takes 1 year to mulch down into usable compost. Our task, specifically, was to shift all of the most 'mature' compost into a separate container and separate out any roots and shoots into the 'less mature' container.

We managed to move an enormous amount of earth in a very short space of time and this means that other volunteers can focus on other areas of the garden when they next come to volunteer.

Many hands make light work!

Another composting team had a similar task of moving compost into a separate container. Their pile was sightly different in composition and it was a lot harder to dig in and shift the earth! Their target was to reach an elusive carpet which marked a dividing line between two different sections of compost. They didn't quite manage to work all the way down to the carpet but they got super close and managed to move a huge amount of earth!

Tim was really pleased with the hard work we had done and he very generously offered us some apple juice that was grown and pressed at their orchard last Autumn. In fact, it was made with apples that we helped to pick back at the end of last year! We appreciated the sugar boost for the run back home.

Thanks!

Thanks a lot to Tim and the volunteers at Bath Organic Group for organising for us to come down for this task. We will return! Thanks to Emma for backmarking for us and thanks to Una for the pun this week!

Upcoming runs

• On Sunday 26th May we are volunteering with The National Trust to help on the Bath Skyline Walk
• In June there is an exciting race in Cheddar Gorge that some of GG Bath have already signed up for
• In June we are also helping at the Saltford Festival
• Next week: we are painting furniture at St Johns Court