A small but mighty gang of two James', two Cats and a Hannah met at St John's Church tonight to help Karen and the Thursday Lunch Club volunteers spruce up the grounds as a thanks to the church for letting the club use its hall. Armed with loppers, rakes and wheelbarrows, the volunteers made great progress clearing back brambles and ivy to make the path to the hall more accessible and the area generally more presentable. Special shout out to newcomer James who got stuck straight in with the chopping and had to be prised from his loppers when it was time to leave!

Great work tonight gang!

You can find out more about the Thursday Lunch Club here. It's a great initiative so please do reach out to Karen if you can help with your time or donations.

Rebecca, Cat and I helped set up for the Maple Road Market on Saturday. A great way to start out day, this team of goodgymers worked with another volunteer to move and put up ten(ish) gazebos that market stalls would use during the day. By the end of it, we were the dream team with a slick and quick technique for getting them up!

Perhaps the dream team can do next months too!

Oh and we found a cool spider inside one of the gazebos! No spiders were harmed :)

Five cheerful Goodgymers met Jorella at the lovely Albion Green space, near Forest Hill. Sadly, the Friends' lockup had been damaged by an attempted break-in, so Jorella rushed back home to get some alternative tools for us while we did a good litter-pick. One gent approached us to pop a bit more rubbish in our bags, nice.

Jorella was soon back and we set about the proper task of the evening - clearing the sides of the path by the railway of brambles, nettles, rubbish and a large branch expertly cut up and moved by the team. We even had a little time left to trim back some diseased branches of the big horse chestnut by the gate, to give it a chance to come back stronger.

thanks team for battling the prickles and stingers for a job well done :)

The weather was HOT tonight as we made our way to Cator Park to give the (no longer so tiny) saplings in the Tiny Forest some much needed mulch and water.James, Clare, Kelsey and I were on wheelbarrow duty, getting a good upper body workout shovelling and transporting mulch across the park. Meanwhile Tony, Catherine and Kat took care of our young trees, spreading the mulch and getting rid of pesky weeds.

Thanks to all who came and great to see how much the Tiny Forest has come on!

Back to Dorset Road Allotments and s new chicken coop they've found for us to dismantle! Our first project has now been seeded with grass and is awaiting some benches to make a picnic area, but the work is never done because this new coop can make way for a new area to lease. Jeanette, committee member for the Allotments, said it was a 2.5 year waiting list, so any new space will be gratefully received.

We did a good 3km run from Bridge House to Dorset Road and headed over to this new spot to inspect the work. With tools provided, Fiona, Cat, James and James began demolition and weeding operations whilst Clare and I ferried the pieces over to the waste area.

We made massive progress and will be back in a few weeks to continue, so join us then :)