This was part two of our efforts to shift the remnants of the Christmas tree chippings into the maze on behalf of Myton Hospice and Pass the Smile for Ben. It was a lovely day at Russells Garden Centre and the perfect day for some hard work!

After meeting our task owner Tim at the greenhouse, it was time to head down to the mouth of the maze with wheelbarrows, rakes and shovels in tow. Faced with two mercifully smaller piles than the last visit, we set ourselves the challenge of filling as many wheelbarrows as possible before our 2-hour session was up. After making the first trip, Laura made the discovery that the weeds were much (much), taller than the last visit and some new stinging nettles had also made an appearance. Navigating our way through the growth while also trying to remember the route in and out of the maze was beginning to prove difficult, but we powered through and before we knew it, we were at 18 barrels.

Just as we were beginning to slow down, Graeme arrived to give us a much needed boost. Often carting one wheelbarrow on top of another, Graeme had our trip numbers shooting up while the chippings pile got smaller and smaller. As the session drew to a close and we emptied our 35th wheelbarrow, we took a satisfied glance at out handwork before snapping a quick selfie and returning our equipment to the greenhouse.

It's always a lovely time at the Garden Centre and there is plenty more work to do so look out for future sessions at Russells if you think this might be of interest to you!

4 Goodgymers braved the maze to move Christmas tree chippings at Russells Garden Centre.

This morning's community mission was a collaboration between Coventry Goodgym and Warwick & Leamington Spa. We headed down to Russells Garden Centre to help move the tree chippings left over from their charity Christmas tree collection scheme. The task involved filling wheelbarrows from large piles just outside the maze and wheeling them into the centre in order to help tame the weeds.

After a quick briefing by Scott and a crash course in maze navigation, we were off! Starting off with only two pairs of hands on deck, Laura suggested a competition to see who could fill their wheelbarrow before the other person had completed their trip to and from the centre of the maze. Before her and Alexandra could really get stuck in to the competition Graeme arrived to lend a hand and Laura followed shortly afterwards.

For the rest of the session the group made quick work of the first pile of chippings and put a sizable dent in the second before calling it a day. This is definitely going to be a repeat task so if it sounds like something you would like to get involved in, watch this space!

2 Goodgymers from WLS + some of their friends from Goodgym Coventry helped Myton Hospices and Pass the Smile for Ben with collecting real Christmas trees to help with their fundraising efforts.

We have previously supported the annual Christmas Tree-cycling by helping to deliver leaflets advertising the service and by wheelbarrowing the shredded Christmas trees after the event. This just left one task that Goodgym has not helped with before which was collecting the trees and helping with the shredding - until now...

Nigel and Katherine were at Russells Garden Centre in Baginton early this morning to collect their van and PPE before heading over to the centre of Leamington to collect the trees that had been allocated to their route. With 29 trees collected and their first route finished, it was time to head over to Coventry for the second route of the day - after stopping to empty the van a couple of times and wave at our friends from GoodGym Coventry who were ready and waiting at Russells to empty the van and pass the trees through the mighty shredder!

With our second route being a bit closer to Christmas Tree HQ, we were determined to complete the trees on our route and after another drop off, finished with time to spare by 3:30 having collected a total of 64 trees. The pile of shredded trees was getting increasingly large as the day went on. There's going to be a lot of wheelbarrowing to do in a few weeks!

Absolutely loved every minute of it - even in the rain! Sign us up for next year :-)

3 Goodgymers were determined to finish the task that had been set by Myton and Pass the Smile, so we returned to Lillington for the third week to deliver leaflets advertising their Christmas tree collection service.

After a brief warm up at the Pump rooms, we headed off on what was now becoming a familiar route to pick up where we left off last week. With only one (albeit rather long) road left on our list to deliver to, we set to work. Every week we have been seeing more and more houses with their fantastic decorations up and this week did not disappoint, with more lights than ever lighting up our run.

With the last house covered, we headed back into town, saying goodbye to James on the way as he headed off towards his house.

That's the last Goodgym session of 2022! Looking forward to the first session in January when we will be helping at Chase Meadow Community Centre.

3 Goodgymers returned to the Lillington area of Leamington to deliver some more leaflets for Myton hospices and Pass the Smile for Ben promoting their Christmas tree collection service.

After last week's frosty run, we didn't think it was possible to be colder, but we were wrong! In subzero temperatures we had a new challenge with delivering the leaflets, some people's letter boxes were frozen shut!

Thankfully we had lots of wonderful decorations to distract us from the cold including snowflake and star light shows as well as singing snowmen. We also had the added challenge of trying to beat the parcel delivery driver who seemed to be taking the same route as us around the houses (we won of course!)

Having covered nearly all the roads on our list, it was time to defrost in the pub! Thank you to James for helping us avoid getting completely lost with his expert navigation skills.

4 Goodgymers braved the cold to deliver leaflets supporting Myton Hospices and Pass the Smile for Ben.

With teeth chattering from the cold, we met at our usual meeting spot outside the Pump Rooms and then headed up the parade towards the Lillington area which was tonight's delivery target.

For the first road we split to cover each side and Katherine zig zagged between the two sides of the road according to whoever was needing the help most. Allan joined us part way through the run, so for the next road James and Nigel took one side of the road, whilst Allan and Katherine took the other side - and the race was on! But as we all know it's not the winning but the taking part that counts (does that make me a sore loser ;-) )

On the third road there were only houses on one side of the road, so we worked together as a tag team with everyone running past the others 4 houses along and we had the road covered in no time. The only problem was the large number of in-out driveways which in the dark got very confusing as you thought you were going to the next house, only to find it was actually still the last house and someone else was already at the door delivering a leaflet!

Once the last road for this evening was complete, we enjoyed a jog back into town (enjoying the big hill on the way slightly less) and made plans for our Christmas drinks after next week's group run when we will be back delivering more leaflets for Myton and Pass the Smile.