Eight GoodGymers headed to the Carrington Community Garden in Nottingham to help tidy up the area. Nestled between two residential streets, this hidden gem has been a little neglected in the last couple of years and had become overgrown, littered and had also attracted some rough sleeps recently.

As GoodGym, we had been aware of the gardens for some time but did not know who to contact about helping there. So when we saw Peter, whose daughter had just moved nearby, asking on social media for help in sprucing it up we jumped on board, along with some other local residents and councillors.

Now, all GoodGym tasks are great, but you know it's going to be a good one when you are greeted on arrival by a) a dog and b) an ice lolly and muffins, even before we had done any work (although some had run/cycled in the sun so were more deserving!). This is what happened when we arrived and met Local Councillor, Nayab, who brought the treats and Mark from the Council who was accompanied by little Jack the jack russell. Jack kept a watchful eye on us as we worked and was particularly interested when someone rustled the paper of a muffin case (sorry, Jack, they were chocolate). We were also joined by some local residents and Councillor AJ Matsiko stopped by to have a chat and admire our work.

Peter had already made a bit of a start on the garden the previous week, but we carried on with the clear-up, spending an hour removing weeds and brambles from the path area and litter picking around the gardens. We filled two green waste bins and more, and after the hour the area already looked more open and the path more accessible. There is a still a lot to do, though, so we will be putting in more dates to return very soon.

Thank you to Mark, Nayab, AJ, Kees and his family for such a fun evening, and thanks to Peter for getting this project off the ground.

We were back at Walter Halls School last night for another incredibly fun task. This week, we moved away from the pond and garden area where we have worked previously to focus on one of the storage cupboards underneath part of the school (although Peter and Tom did start off with a quick 10-minute pickaxe session on the pond area to warm them up, or was it a cool down after also running from Market Square to the school?).

Our job was to help clear out an enormous amount of ‘stuff’ from the storage area so that it could be sorted through and tidied. We set to work with Adele and Emma from the school, taking all the items outside so that we could assess what was worth keeping and what would, sadly, need to be disposed of.

There was such a random mix of equipment, toys, tools, boxes and much more…plus a wheelchair. However, most surprising was a huge pile of pushchairs which had been donated to the school by East Midlands Airport. Emma went through them all to check them and see if they were still functional, and we all helped with some of the trickier ones to see if we could work out how to put them up and down – we managed most of them, but some had us stumped!

Once all the equipment was out, we swept and cleaned up the storage area ready for the salvageable items to be put back in. With the cupboard repacked in a more orderly fashion, we finished up by wheeling all the broken pushchairs and taking all the rubbish to the bins at the rear of the school ready for collection.

It was lovely to see Tom back after a break and also well done to AJ for completing his 5th GoodGym task.

Thank you to Adele and Emma for once again hosting us at this amazing school. We’ve enjoyed every visit so far and we always leave feeling satisfied and impressed with all the amazing projects going on at the school.

A stonking 10 GoodGymers descended on Walter Halls School this week for an evening of garden renovation. We were back in the same area we started last time that is being turned into a pond and wildflower garden.

We welcomed Peter for his first session, which he took with gusto, swinging a pickaxe like a pro, taking turns with Peter and assisted by Dayna and Rosemarie with spades.

Debbie and Aj started off by collecting stones to put in the tyre planters, then topped them up with branches and soil.

At one point, Pete M and Dayna (the two tallest people) helped remove a rainbow tarpaulin from the wooden pergola as it had seen better days and Adele wanted to repurpose the material for something else.

Nigel, Rachel and Marta planted some wild flowers in the no-dig beds we created, and Marta did a lot of watering with Debbie

Leah and one of the school staff, Emma, headed off up to the entrance to cut down some branches that had been causing a trip hazard on the paths, loading them into one of the now-empty tonne bags for use later in the planters.

Busy busy busy! Too bad ITV cancelled on us at the last minute!