Tonights litter pick took us from the Roman wall gates, through the Dutch Quarter and past the Castle and pleasingly there was not a huge amount of litter!

Come and join us for a Parkrun on Saturday and enjoy the first signs of Spring.

It was a beautiful still evening in Castle Park, where we helped dig up all the bedding plants and bulbs, ready for the next lot. Working steadily along the curved bed, we pulled up all the weeds too, giving the soil a tickle as we did so, leaving it in fine condition for the park gardeners. Louise, Phil, Frazer, Stu, Andy, Helen, Pam and Tim did a fantastic job. Colchester in Bloom are continuing the job tomorrow, so do join them if you can!

We had a tremendous turn out tonight for our litter pick along the River Colne for Keep Britain Tidy and RiverCare. Fourteen energetic GoodGymers armed themselves with pickers and sacks to tidy a beautiful area used by walkers, runners, cyclists and nature lovers. It's good to help maintain a clean and safe outdoor space, especially so close to play and leisure amenities and the popular Castle Park. We split into two groups, with one covering the Kings Meadow and Middle Mill area, and the other taking the route East along Riverside. The rain eased off and nature showed us its best with rich green river plants, elegant swans and cygnets, bindweed, poppies, ducklings and a nosy herring gull. Speculative rats ran along the lake's edge and we even celebrated their place in the world! We filled a good number of sacks, all weighed down with assorted remnants of people's lives: cans, fast-food packaging, wrappers, party balloons, hair bands, phone cases and plastic, plastic, plastic. Ella got top picker in our team with her mega pizza box! Littering is a great shame, a menace for people and wildlife, and so sad to see. But we plogged along in usual good spirits, putting the world back in shape and our minds back in good form. The groups met back at Leisure World where we compared finds and joked about this being possibly the smelliest litter pick to date. GoodGym Colchester certainly have a nose for rubbish! We safely disposed of the sacks in the large Council bins behind the Leisure Centre. We were thrilled to welcome Detti to our group tonight. We also commend Katherine on her 49th good deed and Rosalind who has now reached her 10th task - significant milestones.
With GoodGym Colchester's 4th birthday on the horizon and an upcoming social as well, I think we're doing pretty well at keeping active and connected during these worrying and changeable times. Well done everyone!

What a difference the sun makes! The cold air and frost were no match for the Parkrunning, Goodgyming heroes of Colchester.

Ella, Emma, Phil and I welcomed Nicky , Ben and Neil to their first Goodgym experience, but certainly not their first experience of doing good for their communities.

Ella and I were in charge of the Colchester Castle Parkrun tokens with the added job of promoting our Starter Session to the runners! Our very own Emma, Phil and Etienne completed the 5 km course along with Nicky and Neil whilst Ben also volunteered.

So we met and we litter picked! We made a great improvement to Kings Meadow and Bull Meadow but their is still work to be done in the harder to reach areas. As with all litter picking groups big and small the aim is that one day we do not need to litter pick because there is no litter - is that a hopeless dream? Either way we chatted and debated whilst collecting an impressive 3 bags of litter.

The litter picking highlights include finding Michelangelo (not the sculptor the turtle - hence the title), a pair of sunglasses, a tracksuit and £7.10!

A big thanks again to Colchester Borough Council, Keep Britain Tidy, the Park Rangers and Rivercare who support us to do our bit.

Another message I would like to tell you is my personal favourite moment - seeing my best friends toddler enjoying using a litter picker for a few minutes whilst I briefed the adults! That may be the answer to the question above - if our kids hate litter and love helping imagine the difference in our communities!

On Wednesday we are off to Plum Hall to tidy up the outside areas at a Colchester Borough Homes residency.

Enjoy your weekend folks!

Super Saturday was kicked off by a few partakers in parkruns at Colchester castle park and Highwoods. 10 of us then gathered for a litterpick at 11am in the park. We were given instructions by park ranger Tim to focus on both a top area of the park near the bandstand and another section on the other side of the river. We got to work in two teams and spent an hour picking up various odds and ends, including lots of cigarette butts, cans and even a pair of pink knickers!! We then headed to raise a glass and some chips to GG10 at slug and lettuce. happy 10th GoodGym!!

Thanks all for coming and celebrating and thanks to Liam for taking some pics as well :) Here is to the next 10 years!

The inclement British weather did not put off 15 fearless young GoodGymers from braving the damp air for some pruning and tidying in Colchester Castle park this evening.

The 15 of us slowly drizzled in from 6.45 and we even managed to persuade Sophie to come and play rather than go to the 'normal gym' as she called it. It was great to see faces old and new as we set out in to the park, with an enroute warm up including our usual high knees and side steps. While awaiting the ranger's instructions, we played an 'appreciation' game where each of us chose another GoodGymer and told them something we appreciated about them. This was quite lovely with lots of appreciation for each other's sense of humours, thoughtfulness and inclusion. Warm fuzzies all round.

Simon the park ranger came along with the equipment and we played a game of Simon says where he told us what to do and we did it - much like the real game.... We had secateurs and lobbers aplenty, as well as some good old litter picking equipment. Our job was to cut down the 'suckers' (or the other fancy name that I can't remember) from the high point of the circle of trees around the bandstand. Simon asked us to cut down anything under about 6 foot - Christina made a fabulous measuring point for this purpose. We cleared away a big bag full of odds and ends which resulted in a very aesthetically pleasing eyeline for all those parkrunners.

Tav devised an ingenious bandstand circuits workout for us all. In pairs we completed 8 x 30 seconds of a range of strength and core activities, including planks, push ups and lunges. After that, we ran around the castle and down towards the bottom of the park - a mini park run lap to then finish with some stretches on the bridge.

A lovely evening and I hope you were all happy to come out in the end. I know I was!