On a bright and breezy evening following some rain, eleven enthusiastic GoodGymers laced up their running shoes and set off for another group run. This time, our mission was to dig into some gardening tasks at Moulsecoomb Allotments and plant some potatoes.

The uphill run to the allotments got us warmed up. Upon arrival, we were greeted by the sight of an overgrown plot desperately in need of some TLC, and Pippa already hard at work. Armed with spades, forks, and mattocks, we were ready to turn this patch from shabby to spud-tacular.

Our first task was to clear the weeds and debris that had taken over this section of the allotment. Everyone got down to earth, pulling up stubborn weeds and clearing the ground. Kudos to those who faced nettles, creepy crawlies, and stubborn pieces of buried debris - we even found and rescued a slow worm! With the ground clear, it was time to plant the potatoes. Each potato was carefully placed into the earth with mulch, spaced just right to give them room to grow.

After a quick tidy-up and a rescue of Stefania's lost phone, the once neglected plot was now a promising potato patch. With the sun beginning to set, we gathered our tools and prepared for the run back.

A thank you to all the runners who came out – you were all spud-tacular! And a warm welcome to Jemima and Isobel who joined us for their first Goodgym task.

After a long-ish run with a cheeky hill at the end, we returned to Moulescoomb Allotments where a long-term project has involved clearing a pocket of land to make a wildflower meadow. Unfortunately, the piece of land in question spent many years as a prime fly tipping location, so there's been a lot of rubbish to shift 💪

This week we were continuing to clear weeds and rubbish, as well as shifting lots of wood chips to lay down in the cleared area. Rob, Michelle, and Rebecca all channeled their inner lumberjack and had a go with the mattocks, with finds including a sword (possibly medieval), a wing mirror, and a massive bit of pipe!

After a tough session that really put the 'gym' in GoodGym, we made our way to the Lewes Road Inn, where despite being muddy and exhausted we managed to achieve a respectable 3rd place in the pub quiz 😎

Moulsecoomb Allotments is an 'oasis of biodiversity' that bring environmental benefits to local people and the natural environment. Many varieties of plants thrive here, which contribute to the bio-diversity of the area and they also provide vital habitats for many species. There are more than 200 plotholders in Moulsecoomb Allotments, we discovered – unless I misunderstood the number under the effect of my headache relief 😊. What is certain is that there will be more beneficiaries after GoodGym’s visit and our digging active mission. Dinging Doug digging and all GoodGym mates found the most unusual objects including shoes, carpets, metals of all sorts, never ending hose entrapped in the soil, and much more. That was a discovery!

An early morning run and visit to a community allotment shop to help unload lots of bags of compost from the delivery van to be sold on in the shop.

The view was great and also scoping out for group tasks when evening day light comes back (4 more weeks!!!)