Last night we went WEST out of our normal East Oxford/Marston stamping ground. We know there are some litter hot spots on and around the Botley Road, and the challenge is to time our litter picks there when the undergrowth is not too dense but the river isn't in flood.

Our clean up crew divided into 2 teams with one heading towards the grot spots along the river, and the other heading to Oatlands Recreation Ground. Some exceptional litter finds were uncovered, from items of clothing to car registration plates, a fire extinguisher, cuddly emoji star, an Unidentified Netty Object (is it a hammock? Is it a fishing net?), but no papier maché spear this time.

Snacks were had to celebrate Bethan's 21st-and-a-bit birthday, and then we scattered into the night feeling just a little bit smug and virtuous for our clean up efforts.

Lovely to have a GG tourist join us from Southampton tonight. Good to meet you Ellie!

Last night we dodged floods and ice to head west for a Botley Road litter pick.

There are several trash hot spots around the area, so we try to do clean ups a few times a year along the Botley Road and into the Industrial Estate. Sure enough, all the usual areas were mucky and we could have ticked off almost all the Litter Bingo Card in the first few minutes. Coffee cups, fast food containers, snack wrappers, bottles, cans....all the litter pick fan favourites were found.

Less predictable were the homemade spear found in the supermarket car park (fortunately a tin foil blade!) and the negative pregnancy test; but if we weren't taken aback by something would it even be a GoodGym litter pick?!

Last night we started 2022 as we mean to go on, helping the food bank and litter picking some of the city grot spots!

Heading West for the first time in a few months we planned to tackle the Osney Mead/Botley Road litter. Although we don't get out that way regularly we're still familiar with some of the favourite dumping grounds: around any park bench (even if there's a bin right next to it), car parks, and bushy hedge are surefire litter gold mines. Our 3 teams set off in different directions - forming a pincer movement from each end of the Osney Mead Industrial Estate, with the 3rd group cleaning up the known dumping ground in the small park next to the bridge. Sure enough, we were soon laden with gin bottles (some fancy artisan gin drinkers in Oxford green spaces), clothing, cans, takeaway containers, newspapers (old skool!), the ever-present masks, even a pair of steel toe-cap boots and a trolley!

An hour of litter picking in freezing temperatures yielded over 20 sacks of trash. We came away thinking that it's high time the UK stole Rwanda's system of Umuganda: "Umuganda is a national holiday in Rwanda taking place on the last Saturday of every month for a morning of mandatory nationwide community work. Participation in umuganda is required by law, and has resulted in notable improvement in the cleanliness of Rwanda."

Welcome to GoodGym Chris!

Two plogs in one week? Well, 2-3 March is Oxford's Spring Clean weekend, with litter-picks all over the city, so of course Goodgym wanted to do our bit. After a quick whizz around Harcourt Hill parkrun, 5 Goodgymers met at West Oxford Community Centre to collect litter-pickers and get plogging. Having only ever run together undercover of darkness it was quite a treat to see those smiling faces in daylight!

Running straight out to Binsey along Binsey Lane, we eyed the litter and realised the task we had in store: So many cans, crisp packets, coffee cup lids littering the roadside.

On our Wednesday plog we found boxers shorts, and we really didn't think it was possible to top that, but oh no, Oxford did not disappoint!

The pants have been trumped by a truly spectacular find by Fiona - a theatre light! We also found a dinner knife, 1 shoe (how do you only lose 1?!), bike locks, a rather fetching pair of fingerless gloves, a dog lead, and a toilet-brush holder. But our favourite finds were the golf balls.

SO. MANY. GOLF. BALLS.

In the spirit of avoiding single-use plastic we collected them up and returned them to the Oxford Golf Centre rather than binning them, and in the process realised that Bethan is in fact the modern-day Mary Poppins, with bottomless pockets.

Returning to WOCA to drop off our 5 tonnes of litter (well, it felt like that!), we made the most of the sunshine with a few kilometres of running along the river. An excellent morning!