We cleared a tonne of leaves from the car park. Just in time as cars started to arrive, including a Nissan LEAF. One car did run over a brush, but it still went vroom, broom after, so that was ok.

It was an all girl turnout for this evenings first indoor mission in...... how long!! 5 of us arrived for some painting in the library at St Pauls church where we were met by Tony. Mission leader Gina had arranged to view the library earlier in the day and come up with a plan so that we didn't depart with five patches of part painted wall and some non painted 'blobs' in between. The room was laid out perfectly for us as there were 5 smallish areas around 3 large windows so a wall each, yay!! Simple. Tony had paint, trays, brushes and rollers laid out for us and Tracey wasted no time in getting stuck straight in. Helen grabbed the ladder and declared she was top painter whilst the rest of us tried to dodge her from below. In next to no time we were done so pushed on with the whole back wall and it helped that Lily and Alex have a bit of height on their side. Tony was very impressed with the amount of painting we'd got through, almost the whole room. There was just a small area along the top of the back wall which Tony said he could finish over the next few days. A lot of girlie banter and all splashed in paint we stacked our used equipment into a box that Tony had provided and we were all off on our merry ways.

We returned to St Pauls Church for an indoor task to prep the library ready for redecoration - NOT! Following a misunderstanding between the Boss, Gina and the task owner it transpired just the evening before the c'mish that we were not in fact doing the prep work as the library room had been booked out for an activity that evening so our resource was used to continue with removing the weeds between the paving area around the perimeter of the church, a job we started on May the (task) forth. Not to be put off, four of us arrived to tackle the persistent weeds, the weather remained dry for a change and the job was a good one.

Eight GoodGymers turned up on Star Wars Day (May the 4th!) to spruce up the gardens at St Paul’s, Covingham. Gina (the Boss) had ordered good weather but think there may have been a glitch in communication.... it was beautiful blue sky for a while, interspersed with a heavy downpour!🌧🌧

We cracked on weeding the pathways outside the church entrance ⛪️. Jason avoided the Quince Tree and Lilywasn’t allowed to use any forks today (see run reports from last time we visited!) Tracy helped distinguish weeds from plants and Stuart danced about in front of the church, probably to keep warm. Gina and Alexandra seemed to have little rests in between working.....Gina even brought along her own stool.

The day was saved when Teresa arrived with Haribo supplies. 🍬🍬 The pathways looked great afterwards and it was lovely chatting to fellow GG-ers face to face again 🥰

3 runners returned to St Paul’s church in Covingham for some more garden clearing. It was looking like a very sad state of affairs on Sunday evening when only Gina, the task leader, was signed up to the mission. After a last minute plea Kirsty, fresh back from her weekend of camping signed and that was deemed good enough to go for it so the mission was on. ‘Weed’ just have to work a bit harder. But Tracey, feeling tired and weary after a busy weekend of running and cycling stepped up to the mark and reluctantly signed so then there were three and we were so grateful again for her 'big hands'. Diane met us and explained the simple task, just clear the overgrown ivy to make space for a charity clothing container. Before we started the task we took a moment to contemplate the quince tree and it’s safe to say there will be no quince jelly this year!! Now a gardening task for GoodGym Swindon just wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have nasty, prickly brambles to contend with and there amongst the ivy was the dreaded beast just waiting to attack.... but we would not be beaten! We took advantage of the music provided for the outside dance class, as we shimmied, sang, raked, dug, discussed current GoodGym issues and before we knew it an hour had passed and we were already sweeping the dust under the hedge feeling proud of our achievement ahead of time. Diane provided us with refreshment in the form of a choc ice each which we devoured and went on our merry ways.

When three became four it got very confusing and had the three of us reaching for our phones in anguish.

Jason had made contact at the very last minute to let us know he’d changed his plans and was going to join us. He was guessing we can’t park in Lydiard (due to the timings of the car park closing). As the rest of us were heading to St Pauls Church in Covingham it became apparent that we all reached for our phones in a panic to check which venue we should be attending.

Super speedy Becky was first to arrive, having run all the way from Wroughton and Diane greeted the four of us at the church in Covingham (Phew!)and explained the task.

A couple of us had met Diane the previous week as not only does she volunteer at the church but she also helps out at the Swindon Night Shelter and we’ve been doing missions at their warehouse and charity shop recently.

A very warm and pleasant evening was spent clearing and tidying the gardens and weeding the pavement outside the church entrance.

It wasn’t long before Gina started a coughing fit caused by a lemon balm plant so donned her faithful face mask, it’s a good job you can’t leave home without one these days.

Jason disguised as a tree, took on the task of trimming the quince bush to within an inch of it’s life when Diane told us of a lady who attends the church and she picks the fruit each year to make jelly, we concurred that the bush would grow back before the end of August or unfortunately she won’t be making any this year.

With just 15 minutes remaining we started clearing and bagging the waste when Tracey with her ‘big hands’ caused a dust cloud which had her in a coughing fit too – what a fab advertisement for GoodGym