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.

A massive group of 21 runners ran along the canal path to Cleveland Pools. We did lots of jobs to help keep the grounds clean and safe. It was really exciting to contribute towards a historic and important part of Bath! We ran 3km in total.

Welcome Anni!

We met outside the leisure centre and I gave the introduction talk. We welcomed Anni to her first GoodGym run. It was great to have you come and join us, we hope you come back again!

After a quick warm-up we were on our way. We took the scenic route and enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the canal path. I encouraged the runners to do some exercises by the side of the canal and we formed a conga line of walking lunges!

You don't pool me!

Our host, Sally, met us at the pools. The building and swimming areas at Cleveland pools date back to the Georgian period. In fact, it is the last surviving lido (outdoor swimming pool) that still exists in the UK. It fell into disrepair and hasn't been used since the 1980's. We have been to help maintain the grounds of the pool before, but since we last visited the team there have worked tirelessly to secured a game-changing amount of National Lottery funding. Hopefully with a further bit of fundraising the team can look to get regeneration work started and open up to the public again in the next few years.

Sally had lots of work for us to do and we split into teams.

Pool me once, shame on you. Pool me twice, shame on me!

A group of us donned our gardening gloves and tidied the grassy banks around the pool. We removed lots of sticky weeds, ivy and general weeds from the grounds and disposed of them. This is to stop them taking over the whole area!

We have hidden depths

A duo of runners worked together to 'fish' various weeds and plants out of the pool. They filled two wheelbarrows full of their treasure! Great work! Luckily we had Mark, our trained lifeguard, keeping an eye on things on this task! Thanks, Mark!

Another team were trusted with hand-held scythes and saws to cut down some aggressive stinging nettles that were taking over a patch of land. Their removal will make it easier for builders to eventually get work started.

Better great than never ... April pools!

A few of our number picked sycamore seedlings from the ground surrounding the buildings. If left, these seedlings will grow into fully-fledged trees which can disrupt the foundations of the buildings. It was an important job to nip in the bud!

Some of the runners worked together to clear other weeds and old tree roots that surrounded the old changing rooms. These pesky roots were starting to disrupt the brickwork and removing them means more of the buildings can be salvaged.

An old bra came to support us!

The rest of the runners were hunting in the disturbed ground near the entrance to the pools. They were acting like Indiana Jones and searching for any ceramic pieces of pottery that has been swallowed by the mud over the many years that the pool was used. We filled several tubs and the plan is for them to be made into a large mosaic by schoolchildren. Some of the odder things we found were half of a Lego character, a small rubber monkey and a very old and very disgusting bra!

Overall, it was great to spend the evening outside in the fresh air and make a valuable contribution to an important piece of our heritage in our wonderful city. Sally was really pleased with how much work we got done and we were really proud of our efforts.

Thanks!

Thanks Steph for backmarking for us and thanks to Sally for hosting us. Thanks for the pun this week, Catrin, and thanks to everyone for all the other puns included in the report!

Upcoming runs

• We have a great Community Mission on Sat 27th April at The Orchard
• We are also doing a really fun Community Mission on Sun 28th April as part of the 2019 Worldwide City Nature Challenge
• Next week: we are gardening at Donkey Lane
• 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

On a sunny evening, 9 GoodGym runners ran to do lots of outdoor tasks at Cleveland Pools. We helped maintain and clean this historic and important part of our city. The Cleveland Pools Trust is currently working hard on getting a grant to renovate the grounds to bring this fantastic asset back into the 21st century for all to enjoy. Our tasks tonight involved keeping the grounds clean and safe and stop parts becoming overgrown and damaged by plantlife. We ran a total of 4km and managed to do some extra exercises like walking lunges on our route!

Welcome Anna!

We met at our usual spot at the Leisure Centre and welcomed Anna to her first run. We did a brisk warm-up and then did a headcount. This week everyone shared their favourite dessert with the group and made us all very hungry!

To get to Cleveland Pools we took the scenic route along part of the Kennet and Avon Canal path. We enjoyed some fantastic views over the beautiful city of Bath.

After we struggled to open a simple un-locked gate, our host, Sally, welcomed us to Cleveland Pools. Sally shared some of the rich and interesting history of the pools with us. Cleveland Pools is the only surviving outdoor swimming pool in the UK from the Georgian period. Sadly, it fell into disrepair and closed in 1984.

We also heard about Captain Evans, a colourful character who managed Cleveland Pools a long time ago. He was known for running swimming galas for local schoolchildren and also for his disappearing magic tricks! He was also known for keeping a pet baboon and a pet tiger at his house in Bath! Sally told us that she had surprise for us after we finished our task relating to Captain Evans. How exciting!

Dont bug me I'm busy

Kiran, Ollie and Anna rummaged around the grassy areas to find parts for the new mini-beast 'hotel'! This wildlife feature attracts insects and small creatures and is a great way to respect the natural environment that we all share. The GoodGymmers used twigs, rocks and long grass to add a few new suites to the hotel.

Paving a good time

The hotel architects then went to help Emily remove some weeds from a large section of pavement. The weeds run wild in this part of the grounds and if they are not removed then they will start undermining the paving slabs. The group found one big frog, a few baby frogs and a hairy caterpillar! It was decided that the caterpillar should be given the penthouse suite in the hotel.

Fishing for ideas

Steve and Allie spent some time cleaning out the algae on the Pool's surface with some long gardening prongs. Although they looked hard, they unfortunately didn't spot any fish.

Amaz-sting work

Joe and Mary worked together to clear back a large patch of nettles. This area was quite overgrown and removing it is a great step forward in keeping the grounds presentable and safe.

Models on the (big)cat-walk

Sally's surprise was a range of top hats, stick-on mustaches (hence the pun!), some toy tigers and a toy baboon in memory of Captain Evans. We then posed in our outfits and did some expert modelling.

Thanks to Emily for the pun this week and thanks also to Emily for backmarking!

• Next week we are running to Bath Organic Group to help them some gardening tasks ahead of their AGM
• We have a Community Mission on Sunday 7th October at Prior Park Landscape Garden. Not one to miss!

What a scorcher for this evenings group run, 21 energetic runners turned up despite the heat to take part in one of two tasks tonight with a shorter route option. The warm up was more for the muscles than taking our temperatures up and the theme for our headcount was all about ice lollies, that was to psychologically cool them all down 

WELCOME to Emma, Emily (EMINEM) and Paul who will be launching Goodgym Swindon in August.

WELCOME Oliver, James and Euan to their first session at Goodgym Bath and lovely to have Tim back with us.

lovely to have CLO from GG BRISTOL tonight.

We split up in to two teams to go our separate ways. Steph taking the lead out to Peter Pan nursery with her team of 9 with PASCALE back marking and EMMA taking a team of 12 to Cleveland pools with ALISON covering the rear.

Task One--Painting the fence at Peter Pan Nursery

A slightly longer run to task number one and although it was equally important it was less physical meaning the sweat was more about the run than the workload painting outside but we did a fabulous job and promised to finish it off next month. We had a good old chat whilst working about various things including Love Island...Shame on us!

Task Two- Grass cutting and weeding at Cleveland pools

The run to Cleveland pools was the shorter option but they had a treat in store for them with the chance to develop a new skill, scything under the watchful eye of Steve who is an expert in the field (pardon the pun) gathering up of the grass and composting it along with any weeds that need removing. Widcombe Junior school will be visiting in the morning and they want it looking at its finest for the VIPs and my team didn't let Sally down with an amazing effort in the heat and they couldn't even able to jump into the pool, although Alison and Tim saved lots of little froglets, Swindon’s Emma had the tiniest broom ever to sweep up the scythed grass, and they learned about a Victorian man who used to jump from 100 feet (?) into the pool... not 100% sure on that fact though! maybe from a tree?

Time to finish off and get together again

we all agreed to arrive back to the leisure centre at 7:55 prompt for a stretch and chat about pun options for one or both tasks combined. The Pan team had to speed it up after getting carried away but made it back as the clock struck eight.

Well done everyone for working so hard in hot conditions and making another Tuesday evening such good fun.

CONGRATULATIONS to Ollie completing the 85 mile Isle of Man Parish walk and GOOD LUCK to Alison for her Cotswold way 100k challenge this weekend...Amazing stuff!!

A reminder for those not able to make The Goodgym Olympics, between Friday 22nd June to Thursday 28th June find a 1km route you would like to run, this can be anywhere, local park, up and down your road, around your garden, on your way to a mission, on a group run as long as it’s a 1km its on, and go on and run it, all the details are available right here https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/goodgym-olmpics-2018-nationwide-race-open-to-all

A 5K run out to one of our favourite destinations this evening at Goodgym Bath for the lucky 14 runners, we went to the famous heritage Clevedon Pools to help in the grounds prior to WORLD HERRITAGE DAY on Sunday 22nd April, our host Sally who is the pools trustee will be leading two tours to the pools in the afternoon http://www.clevelandpools.org.uk/upcoming-events/

A few cheers for everyone who raced at the weekend…. WELL DONE!!

Welcome back to Nicola our resident vet who’s been working in Mexico for 6 months

The steady jog out to warm up took us into Henrietta park for a spot of Paarluaf to get the group motivated by working in pairs for 15 minutes before the short run to the pools themselves.

Hello Sally our Host...YAY!!

Always a welcome smile and ready for action here and with so much ground to cover there is no time to waste in getting stuck into the task, so we quickly split into groups and did exactly that.

Lifeguard duty for Mark with Chris pulling the pool weed

Mary and Ali dead heading all the daffodils. Sam and Becca doing an amazing job laying a dry crazy paved path. The two Emma on weeding duty whilst Nicola and Pascale caught up over a spot of paving weeding. The dream team Lydia, Sam and Joe pruning back the pampas grass.

WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN

Group photo and live footage with Sally choreographing the team and capturing the moment.

A swift jog back to the leisure centre in the Nic of time for a nice stretch and reminder we have a Sunday run this weekend, so if you missed out tonight come along and get that good deed done.

  Thanks to Emma for back marking and Clean Mary for a super pun  

A Barmey army of 16 for tonight's 4k run to Cleveland pools to assist Sally in clearing the grounds ready for the Heritage open weekend 8th-10th September https://m.facebook.com/clevelandpools/?locale2=en_GB This could be your last chance to visit the site before major restoration work starts early next year.

Congratulations to Joe on reaching the

Big 50...Whoop!! Wearing the Black wings of thunder

Mary is right behind him however and will hit 50 this week after her coach run. They get to wear the black wings of glory before that all important T Shirt arrives in the post.

Well done, to everyone who raced at the weekend. Pascale did the Dartmoor marathon a tough trail run and is racing THE MAD COW this weekend. she was also hard at it sign interpreting for Alison in the group run tonight, we are lucky to have her making Goodgym Bath super inclusive.

Well I never, 4 New peeps tonight..Whoo!!

Welcome to Brodie, Jackson (all the way from the USA) Cristian and Alison joining the best volunteering group in the Town. Fabulous to have Emily back with us on a flying visit to Bath and great to have Sam back in the fold.

The route this evening was flat for a change with some fabulous scenery along the Canal, also an opportunity for our newbies to visit this Heritage site hidden away and not open to the public yet.

The Task

To weed and sweep the site for the Heritage weekend, when the pools will be open to the public to raise awareness and match fund for the restoration project which will hopefully start early next year.

Jackson, Brodie and Sam took the cool job of removing algae from the pools surface.

Emma, Becca and David took brush duty on the path leading down to the site whilst Pascale,Alison,Roxy and Cristian tackled the weeding and grass behind the changing rooms and poor Mary was stuck in the child's pool weeding the cracks in the floor. Oli got to grips with the sycamore tree and Emily, Sam and Joe worked hard along the waterfront path weeding and sweeping.

40 minutes later

Job done but chance for everyone to get into the Children's pool for a group photo before bidding Sally farewell with the promise to return soon.

Don't forget you can visit the pools this very weekend for THE HERITAGE OPEN WEEKEND, there will be lots going o. A quick dash back to the leisure centre arriving ad the Abbey clock struck eight.

Thanks to Mary for back marking and Joe for tonight's fabulous pun.

Please don't forget your ID next week, let's get you mission ready.

We raised £59 at the Quiz night for Rob towards his KILIMANJARO climb, fabulous stuff!!