To fast forward before we even begin, we were super excited to find a bucket stating ‘The A Team’ - it really was a great night of teamwork at Friends of the Earth!

Hugh had previously joined us on a litter pick in the JQ and he was so helpful and welcoming, standing in and showing us the ropes as he stood in for his colleague. Eve and Annie checked through the job list and the three of us rummaged through the stash of materials brilliantly positioned behind the bike rack, all ready for us to crack on!

While Eve and Hugh swept up piles of leaves and twigs around the side of the building, Annie took a bag and picked up some litter on surrounding streets - returning with lots of support to trim trailing ivy off the silver birch, ensuring it looked nice and tidy!

The space was soon looking pretty clear and we just had some weeding to do out front. Kept us warm having plenty to do and we could feel the warmth and festive vibes from The Warehouse Café too!

Special thanks again to Hugh, who offered a spontaneous helping hand as well as guiding us to compost bins and sharing all sorts of useful knowledge! And Eve rocked up to run and do a good deed after spending a busy day away on work - r e s p e c t all round!

Friends of the Earth is always varied and fun, a lovely team and we usually learn interesting stuff too - this week’s was no different and we can’t wait to be back helping out in the new year!

Tonight we were back at the Friends of the Earth.

We welcomed Marcella to GoodGym for the first time, it was great to have you with us :)

Morwenna, Eve, Jonny and James ran 2k to the task and met our walking group of Miriam, Marcella and Gabriel.

As ever we were also greeted by Marcel the dog, generally an ever present at the Friends of the Earth tasks.

We got to work bagging up cans to be recycled, composting and inside Miriam, Marcella and Gabriel did some paper shredding and cleaning some buckets.

Eve and James stirred in some shredded paper into the compost certainly a 'good good gym workout' see what I did there?!

Once done we had a quick picture with Marcel the dog and headed on our way.

Tonight, Jonny and Gabriel helped out at The Friends of the Earth.

The task was to water the plants, measure some items, take pictures of them and then email them to task owner Karen.

Jonny did the plant watering around the building using 6 full watering cans and Gabriel did a great job of measuring up and taking photos.

We even had time to squeeze in another quick job. Yep we took aload of batteries off charge and boxed them up before replacing them with some dead batteries to power them up!

Once done, Jonny ran home and Gabriel walked back to the JQ :)

Tonight we were at Friends of the Earth where our friend Marcel the dog resides :)

The task was indoor tonight, which was pretty good seen as the weather was somewhat on the damp side!

Annie started on the chopping and laminating, whilst James and Jonny got shredding some old papers. Later Jonny got on the laminating which Annie said was rather therapeutic. I would agree, there is something rather satisfying about a picture perfectly laminated!

Once done we said goodbye to Jane and of course Marcel and headed home after a good job done :)

Jonny, Amy and Annie joined Jane from Friends of the Earth for one of our first sunny evening tasks of the year. It was such a great surprise to find that Digbeth Community Garden just behind their offices and we started with a tour - soaking in all the foliage and wildlife, as well as understanding how their composting system worked.

While Jonny took on the task of clearing leaves out of their pond, before joining Amy and Annie doing some weeding over by the path. There were lots of nettles and other weeds which were overgrown, so we crushed them down and filled the wheelbarrow, all ready to be composted.

We headed off very happy, having connected with nature right in the city centre and we’re looking forward to heading back next month!

Tonight we headed to our friends at Friends of the Earth.

Jonny and Eve ran the 2k to the task venue, whilst Annie and Amy met us at the task.

The task was to clean the alcohol and food cellar and clean the floor and wall around the fridges.

Amy and Annie did the cellar and Jonny and Eve did the floor and wall.

There was lots of wine to move in the cellar, Annie and Amy certainly had a smashing time..literally as one did end up on the floor! But that was no big deal as we could really see the difference we had made by the end of the task :)