It was lovely to see Jason back in the toon, on a sabbatical away from Leeds - fingers crossed your St James' Park experience is a good one.

Alongside Damu and Chris and Charlotte from Newcastle Parks, we had a mission with some weedy cobbles.

We filled trug after trug (another word for those plastic buckets) but as ever with these kind of tasks, there is still plenty to tackle next time!

Five GoodGymers helped with the phase two of the carpark project at Sandown Allotment on a sunny Saturday morning.

Last year we helped Sandown Allotment to level one side of their carpark to put in woodchips and planters. This year we were back to work on the other side of the carpark which they are also trying to level to hopefully put up a structure on it for them to have a dry space to host community events and share the vegetables grown there.

As task owner Corretta showed us the area which would need clearing we were all struck with a feeling of 'how will we even make a dent in this mammoth task?' Not being defended by a good challenge we chose an area to focus on and all got stuck in to do as much as possible in the 2 hours we had. We started by moving a small pile of rocks out of the way to allow easier access and Chris made the neatest rock pile I have ever seen. Then Lucy and Anna starting clearing sticks and branches from the top and me, Max and Chris started digging.

There was alot of discoveries in our digging. Anna found two seperate parts of what looked like a small fancy table and was very satisfied to put them back together but we never found the top. Lucy found a rush latch and Chris managed to dig out some sort of oil can. Conversation turned to The Traitors, with Lucy declaring she could never be a traitor, and then suspiciously vanishing!

We had a nice tea break around midday. We sat on a picnic bench near the other side of the carpark which we worked on previously. There was tea or coffee and a selection of biscuits, chocolates and sweet treats.

Anna casually dropped in that she is running a half marathon tomorrow! Good luck Anna! What a way to warm up with a whole lot of digging!

Just like last year, when we did the other side of the carpark, the before and after pictures just don't do it justice, see other pictures for the amount of soil we dug out, the hug pile of rocks excavate and the weird buried finds. We felt like my made a huge difference in two hours!

A very different sort of task for us today as we learned the skills needed to operate some powerful pieces of equipment for future tasks. Excellent Urban Green Newcastle ranger Isaac put us through our paces today to help us to understand using hedge cutters, large leaf blowers and strimmers, so that in future UGN park tasks we can help to do more. This was a really informative session with lots to learn that will really help us to make the most of our time in Newcastle green spaces in the coming months. Thank you UGN!

A big welcome to Patrick who joined us for the first time today, we really hope to see you back to help us make a difference again soon.

Six GoodGymers helped Urban Green in Elswick Park on a surprising mild and sunny autumn morning. We arrived at the park and couldn't find Urban Green after Chris cycled cycled round the entire park and still couldn't find the van we were a bit stumped. Luckily Tomsaved the day by nipping home picking up some litter pickers, bin bags and a sweeping brush.

Chris had to head off shortly after with no we where to leave his bike. The rest of us littered picked for an hour in the park and along the road at the top, collecting 8 bags of litter between us with me and Jack emptying our bags into the bins and and continuing on.

Tom got really into sweeping leaves off the path at the top of the park and made a friend who helped him push the leaves out of the path and was shocked that he was helping out despite not living on that road.

Even thought the task didn't go according to plan we were pleased with out litter picking efforts and the difference we had made. Well done Ellie on her first good deed with GoodGym! Ellie also found the most random litter of the day a random plastic bag of lentils!

Sam and Tom had been singing praises of FAB bakery last week and this week and as it wasn't too far away most of us ended up pop there afterwards to stock up on sour dough bread (which they slice for you) and enjoy sweet treats.

Seven goodgymers helped Urban Green with bulb planting in St Lawrence Park on a crisp and damp autumn morning.

Urban Green supplied a massive bag of daffodil bulbs which when thrown over a shoulder the wearer looked a lot like an economical santa delivering the present of future flowers.

The actual task was pretty simple anyone taking a channel of a grass slope each and dig a hole for the bulb and then cover it back over. After a tea break half way though we moved on to another grass area in the park where we all took a a section and planned a strip of bulbs.

Unfortunately no before and after pictures as the daffodils will flower in the spring or possibly the one after if deep enough! Hopefully we will get to see the fruits, or flowers, of our labour then.

We are back helping Urban Green in Elswick Park the 16th of November if you want to come along and get involved!