It was fantastic to meet up with Alpha Run Club and Share Bristol on a very Sunny Sunday for a tidy up of Bedminster and a chat along the way.

Splitting into smaller groups (with some not-yet GoodGymmers to be persuaded of the loveliness that could be theirs), we spread out to different corners of BS3 with our litter and recycling bags to wander, sorry, walk and run with purpose, collecting up everything we found. Including a lottery ticket that sadly wasn’t a winner.

We were soon carrying heavy bags with all the “goodies” found but kept going until we could carry no more and headed back to the Library of Things to check in, have a cup of tea and compare litter picking tales.

Happy Sunday!

We were definitely getting noticed by the community on our litter puck of Redcliffe this half term - someone parking a car offered us hot drinks, laughed saying we made him feel like his Mum tidying up his room and came back to offer us his torch, and then, the piéce de resistance (thats French, Vaguely Northern Darren will know from his French A-level at the all girls school) was a van full of Police turning up complete with blue flashing lights as someone (presumably someone else?) had reported an attempted break-in in-progress at the next-door Nursery School/Children's Centre where we help out. They were laughing, too, as they disembarked the van and could see our bags, litterpickers and headtorches as soon as they arrived.

They were more than happy to join in our end-of-task photos before grtting on their way to a probably-more-challenging evening.

Meanwhile there was much chat about Roddy celebrating his 50th year and it turning out that Jason is, too, being just 9 days older. Celebratory Eau de Roddy is unlikely to catch on, though.

Much chatter and 50th Birthday/school tales/80s TV discussions continued with Caroline, Richard G , Richard B joining Roddy, Darren and Melanie as the speed daters were back at Workout's Club Haus. At least we were there until Richard G declared he'd lost interest at Michael Fish in the rendition of John Kettley is a Weatherman by A Tribe of Toffs - definitely not a description of us, Winchester or not.

More next week?

A democratic vote for the destination of choice this evening and the recently renovated Chocolate Path was the winner with the six runners running around the harbour to start at the furthest point and the five walkers staying closer to home and working our way towards the runners.

Anastasia joined us for her very first good deed and wowed us with her news of Lativian successes at the Olympics* (Latvia didn't quite make it onto the medal table). Welcome!

With one pair of secateurs per group and a set of litter pickers or two, we were soon tidying the path in a classic pincer movement, trying to keep put of the way of fellow runners, walkers and cyclists revelling in the glorious summer weather**

We were soon creating new Olympic sports of lobbing stick-like weeds into the gorge to either reach the water (javelin-inspired at a very low tide), pseudo planting said spiky weeds root down on landing in the very thick mud and artistic-depositing-of-litter, mastered by Nick. We hope Ed takes all these ideas with him whilst he's volunteering at the Paralympics (we look forward to seeing all his new kit) and Frances can decide which sport she's going to concentrate on for selection to Los Angeles 2028.

Richard B had joined the walking group for a change, having earned a new 100mile-plus run at the weekend to join up three local ultra routes all in one go, with no sleep. He was chief secateur master if the walking crew. Paul was also with the walking group but that was more to do with the runners having already left when he arrived...

The rain started to get a bit heavier and we barely recognised Danica with her coat covering most of her face as the runners met up with the walkers and we all cheered through another 30-or-so runners (and one cyclist) who came past our group and thanked us for our plogging.

More chatting on the way back, discovering Caroline is probably working with Anastasia this week, and watching some of the goings on a Workout's ClubHaus for our post-run cup of tea/hot chocolate/pint of cider/glass of water where Ed didn't order any food - weird!

Latvia didn't quite make it onto the medal table *it might have rained a bit

It was almost not raining, and then only drizzly mizzly on the 15 GoodGymmers who artived in Queen Square for a lovely Group Run or Walk.

Not only were Gaia and Genevieve back for a second deed, Will and Seb were the first to arrive for their very first visits to GoodGym - we hope to see you both again very soon, in your matching outfits!

The runners outnumbered the walkers this week and 9 GoodGymmers were sandwiched between Run Leaders Vaguely Northern Darren and Richard B as they set off to St Werburgh's Community Centre and the four walkers set about hunting litter on a walk across the city centre.

The runners navigated the flooded subway via the handily-placed Bricks of Dryness (BoDs) and set about tidying the play area in St Werburghs. We definitely didn't touch the plant that had the 'Do not touch' sign on it, but we did clear all of the soil, remove the weeds, and tidy toys up, as requested.

Meanwhile, litter-picking and tidying were happening on the walk up to and around Brunswick Square and, once that was tidier, through parts of the Cemetery where Richard G, Jason and Frances were introduced to the wonders of Renée and Renata by Melanie. The 80s were odd.

Seven runners and four walkers made their way to Riverside Park in the evening sunshine to do what we do best...rid the parks of rubbish with style, panache and a little je ne sais quoi! (one of our new GoodGymers is French and I remembered that I am fluent at French! :-) So bienvenue to Genevieve and benvenuta to Brent GoodGymer Gaia (who's Italian, which is not one of the many languages I speak so had to Google that one.) It felt as if spring had finally arrived this evening and while we worked hard at the task, it was great to hear the chat and laughter while doing good, and seeing passers by smile and acknowledge the work we were doing for our community.

We had rival teams of GoodGymmers in Bristol this evening with the runners heading up to Bramble Farm and the walkers across to Redcliffe. Who would get more soaked was the main question but we didn't care because it was daylight! Jo was taking no chances in her three coats

As the runners, including safari-experienced Freya, helped out around the farm, including very deep mud for the pigs in their pen, the walkers were finding pens of their own on the litter pick by the bus stops - very entertainingly an Avon and Somerset Police pen followed by a Crimestoppers one, and a discarded badge which ironically was for "Be an everyday hero, #choosetoreuse".

Far more excitingly, FOUR discarded penguin wrappers were found, each at a different location and each with a different penguin joke. I say joke, thats quite generous. It did lead to Frances only being able to communicate through penguin "jokes" for a while.

Most unexpected finds included a curtain rail and dumbell, the later proving a very good workout for Arron and his Streetmaster Pro pickers, whilst Caroline's pickers had lost an Important Red Bit that holds the trigger in place and was most impressed that a little bit of stick could substitute. Richard G proved very good at ensuring we still had all seven walkers and herding us all back together - sheepdog-in-training for One Area Activator and Her Dog at the Shindig later this year.

Jason rounded off the task with a pose akin to Roddy the Roadman, which no-one except Melanie had ever heard about.

It was GoodGym Eats at The Stable and top runner (with a new haircut) Richard B was mighty happy when all seven walkers joined him at the big table he'd been occupying all on his own.

See you all again next week?