Tonight 11 GoodGymer's ran or cycled 4km to support Aslake Growers Community Garden.

With a lot of recent rain there were plenty of overgrown areas than needed some attention. We split into groups around the site to pull up any weeds and unwanted plants.

The sycamore had become particularly invasive, growing to heights over 2 metres so Alina took on the task of cutting it back with loppers and a saw.

The raised beds were given a thorough tidy up, with more soil added and sifted ready for planting.

And the perimeter bank of the building was completely cleaned up, pleasing some GoodGymer's who were able to work at waist height without any back aches!

Shout out to Katy and Bill who brought with them freshly picked gooseberries for us all to take home, along with some black currants and cucumbers from the community garden. Tuck in everyone!

Tonight 12 GoodGymer's ran or cycled 4km to Aslake Community Growers.

We returned to the venue after some time away, and it was great to get stuck into a range of tasks.

One group began weeding and clearing an area outside the greenhouse.

A second group took a large number of seeds and got to work potting them into separate pots and attaching a label of exotic names such as 'Zinna Jazz'.

And a third group took on the task of building up raised beds. Armed with a drill, some saws and a box of screws, they used some old pieces of wood to attach an additional frame to the beds that need deeper soil.

1 hour flew by and everyone was pleased with a satisfied evenings work. We will be returning next month to continue supporting this lovely venue.

And also a HUGE shout out to Stephen⁨ for completing his 3 Peaks challenge at the weekend!!

After a long overdue visit, we went to Aslake Community Growers, one of the community groups we've visited since we started in 2017.

There was a good turn out and Mike was pleasantly surprised how many of us there were.

The tasks for the evening were to transport compost to spread over some new vegetable patches, and then to clear out several vegetable patches from last year, so that they can be reused.

Rachel found what she thought was an egg... happened to turn out to be the world's smallest potato. Not liking to waster things, Kathryn took it home to cook with her other much larger potato.

It was a fun task with great before and after photos. I've already booked in the next visit for June.

Last night 5 GoodGymer's ran to Sprowston Community Centre. (Sprow) as in Crow!

Meeting at the Brickmakers Arms, Elizabeth, Stephen and myself ran 2km to the task on a dry and mild evening. Once we got to the Community Centre we met GoodGym regulars Katy & Bill who had brought along some tasty snacks (chocolate log) and a warm homemade spiced apple drink!

Mike, the task owner described the task - to help make Christmas Wreaths, and gave us a quick demonstration of how to do it. Starting with a circular wire frame, we were instructed to overlap varying branches of garrya, conifer & holly around 30cm in length. We were each given a wire reel to attach everything together. As Katy put - It doesn’t have to be tidy! And once the foliage was tied in we were able to add in ribbon, cones and baubles.

I thought the task looked quite therapeutic, however Elizabeth & Bill thought it was stressful! Katy’s tip to go for 'big bunches' (it goes quicker) meant we were able to create 7 wreaths in total during the hour-long session. Once finished, Mike told us the wreaths would be sold locally for £4 and can be kept for up to 2 weeks!

All that was left was a group photo, before Stephen and I completed the return 2km back to the start.

As this week's task was a long way from our usual starting point, we met in the car park of the Brickmakers Pub (sadly the pub wasn't open!) before heading on a 2km each-way jog to Aslake Community Growers.

A big shout out to Mark who was completing his 50th good deed!

There were two tasks to do this evening. One was to move and manoeuvre some lights (that were attached to scaffolding poles) from one greenhouse to another, so that both greenhouses have lighting ahead of the dark winter months. This required a lot of brain thought to say the least as the poles were long and heavy.

The other task was to extend and double up one of the rows of plant stations.

Both tasks were rather physical and involved plenty of lifting and mindful placing.

A cracking job my everyone.

Tonight's Group Run was our first return to Aslake Community Growers since last summer, so it was great to be back.

As with everything this year, a lot of their bushes and trees had overgrown, so with great pleasure we gave it a good trim up with some saws.

Thankfully there were no serial killers amongst us so no-one was a victim of a Sprowston Massacre haha.

The team did a fantastic job, despite rumours of me sitting down on the job, which I can neither confirm or deny.

Well done to Andy for getting IN the skip to flatten it down!