The rain couldn't quite hold off for tonight's Group Run, but our intrepid crew battled the elements and the weeds regardless.

Laura joined us for her first Group Run and got well stuck in the weeding the flower beds alongside Andy and Lucy. The rest of the team took on the jungle ahead of the back wall, filling an entire large garden waste bin and five bin bags! We finished up by spreading some wood chip to help stop some of the weeds coming back.

We made such a massive difference in a short space of time - well done everyone! A rainbow even made an appearance to send us on our way.

Thanks to Katie L for arranging this task for us - we had a very pleasant evening in The Samaritans garden.

We had a list of tasks that needed undertaking and managed to complete the list in a little under 45 minutes!

Weeds were pulled (with some specialist paving-slab lifting in places), flower beds were watered and the shed was organised. We even managed to wrestle a very large gazebo back into his storage bag!

Sinéad and Katie demonstrated some mega upper body strength hanging in the trees, whilst Andy and Dave had a manly moment behind the shed together pulling put some deeply rooted grasses.

And well done to our Run Team this evening, who managed to squeeze in a second good deed on their way to our task - separate report to follow 😀

All together now:

Happy Birthday to us! Happy Birthday to us! Happy Birthday, GoodGym Portsmouth, Happy Birthday to us!

We had a fab hour out on the water, and were all appropriately prepared thanks to our kayak expert-in-residence, Yvonne. Dawn came out on the water with us, and was able to guide us to a secret seal hang out. After checking us out from afar, the cheeky seals kept popping up to say hello. Abby named some of our new friends - you might spot Simon and Garfunkel in our photos!

And the results are in!! In a stunning turn of events, we have four GoodGymers on the podium for the Golden Trainer Award - but no silver medal!

Joint third place, both finishing 23 seconds under their predicted time were Katie and Andy - nice one, guys!

And we also have JOINT WINNERS - with Judy and reigning champ Dave both coming in at 19 seconds faster than their predicted time. The trophy has gone home with Judy whilst I plan to fashion a second trophy for Dave. EPIC!

Looking back on previous years, this year's field were more accurate overall, with the biggest underestimating being just 91 seconds - we have had runners being 2.5 / 3 minutes out before, so super good work to everyone who took part. You certainly earned your Haribos.

After the celebrations were up, we were united with BRAND NEW GOODGYMER Sanat, who unfortunately missed the Golden Trainer due to poor postcode entry on the task... I'm very sorry, Sanat! In just over half an hour, we filled 4 bags of litter - with interesting finds including two socks (not a pair), a tie, some sunglasses and a dinosaur head!

We then added a bonus good deed by removing the protective polythene from some new hedgerow, as the leave were being flattened and restricted as the plants tried to grow. This did add another level of chaos as we tried to contain the polythene tubes.

What a lovely way to spend a balmy spring evening! The Portsmouth and Southsea Syngogue's garden is a beautiful, calm and quiet space, despite being in the midst of a busy residential area.

We were shown around by Barbara, a volunteer gardener, before being put to work weeding the flower beds and laying down bark from some former garden trees. We relied on Richard and Sinéad's horticultural knowledge to distinguish between some very pretty weeds and actual garden plants.

Whilst digging weeds out of the cracks in the path, Laura uncovered a key - I'm not sure we established who it belonged to though!

We have also had a lesson in the dangers of sycamore seeds, with plants popping up in-between cracks, in drains and just about everywhere else in the grounds! Hopefully we caught some of the little saplings early enough that they haven't completely taken route.