After months and months of restrictions it was absolutely JOYFUL to run as a group again.

After our task at Aston's Eyot we made our way around the corner to the famous Roger Bannister track.

This iconic track was where the first official sub-4-minute mile was recorded and now home of a few Goodgym training sessions. >

After a short introduction on track rules, Anwen set us off on our workout. We were rewarded with cake and applause at the end and an agreement to see if we could use the track again soon.

A fabulous group run!!

Aston's Eyot is a nature reserve tucked away between Meadow Lane and the river. The land belongs (I think I remember rightly) to Christchurch, but there's an active Friends of Aston's Eyot group who manage and monitor it. Our very own Sarah is also a member of Friends of Aston's Eyot. There's all sorts of wildlife resident in the nature reserve - even badgers and deer despite it's proximity to residential/urban areas.

Through the spring an summer months we like to try and get to Aston's Eyot to help out a few times. There's always lots to do!

Tonight the scythes were out again and we got some great Poldark action going, chopping back nettles around a meadow area, and raking enormous heaps of the chopped nettles back (not as bad for the hayfever sniffles this month!). Fresh from our fence detangling at South Ward Allotments we expertly removed and rolled up a long chicken wire fence so that it can be redeployed elsewhere on site. Matty and Meysam bashed some new fence posts in - not the ideal task for someone feeling a bit shabby from a hangover perhaps, but kill or cure....

Turning our attention to other areas of the meadow we threw caution to the wind and let the long-haired people pull out Burdock. Once Bethan got 15 burrs tangled in her hair we realised the error of our ways! Vicky, Sarah and Jocasta took the litter pickers off round some of the favourite picnic areas, finding no pants but making up for it with a burnt bra (approve the feminist principles, less so the littering!), and the rest of the group gloved-up and took to nettle pulling. Hauling out the nettles will hopefully give the smaller flowers room and light to grow and will encourage biodiversity; worth a few tingly stings.

Is it even a GoodGym task if you don't get a bramble scratch or a nettle sting?

Some exciting milestones tonight:

10th Good Deed for Meysam - nicely planned so that it was at the same location as his first GoodGym session.
Holly and Venetia both did their 50th Good Deed. They'll be rocking their black Tshirts soon.
Trev - 100 Good Deeds! Wings on their way.
We preemptively celebrated Ben's 250th Good Deed, which will probably take place before we next see him on a group task. Super Star!
A warm welcome Nick! Glad you could join us.

We've been enjoying a close partnership with Oxford Mutual Aid since last autumn, and tonight's task was all part of that. As some will know, there's recently been a shortage of HGV drivers, which has severely impacted the reliability of the fruit and vegetable supply at the OMA food bank. In an attempt to be a little more local and self-sufficient in the supply chain OMA have been on the hunt for allotments to grow their own fresh food, and the plot we were working on at East Ward Allotments is hopefully the first of many.

Loading up with surplus cardboard (for weed suppression) from the food distribution hall, we set off on foot to the allotment site, with Bethan and Vicky leading the running pack the long way round, and Anwen and Sarah loading up with cardboard and walking. We've run with plants, we've run with cake, but large cardboard boxes is where we draw the line!

A little game of Olympics Heaven and Hell formed the fun part of introductions - what would be the sport you'd go for Gold in? What would be the one you'd embarrass the nation at? We clearly have some excellent partnerships forming, as Gold medalists in the skiing can teach those of us who would career down hill demonstrating an uncontrollable wobble. Also plenty of ideas for the next GoodGym Olympics - hula hooping, punning, and a petition to add bramble root digging in place of the tug'o'war.

Lulu let us into the allotment site, and we scooted over to our friends at the Children's Allotment to pick up some tools (THANK YOU for the loan!), then no muss no fuss, got stuck in. Lulu has only recently taken on the allotment, and so there was plenty to do to get it ready for growing produce: weeding, removing bind weed, and chopping down the MASSIVE bramble tangle at the back of the plot. We're sure some of those brambles were decades old judging by the thickness of the stems. We almost felt bad to be getting rid of heritage brambles (not THAT bad though, particularly after a few scratches!). An hour or so of diligent weeding and lopping from 19 pairs of hands made a massive difference to the plot. The front bed was fully weeded, the brambles all chopped down, and some determined bramble root removal too. We even found frogs, which didn't seem too impressed by having company for the evening after months of solitude.

Welcome Rachael and Abbie. Great to meet you! We hope you enjoyed your first GoodGym evening.

Group runs are baaaaaack

A few of us celebrated the return of group runs by jogging to the Children's Allotment, tin of flapjacks in hand! Baked goods are always required to celebrate milestones, no matter how disintegrated they get on the journey over! Well done to Lorenzo and Sarah on your 50th and 100th good deeds!!

Tonight we returned to one of our favorite spots The Children's Allotment. We have loved coming here over the past few years and it is fantastic to see the progress of the site, and so exciting that it is nearly ready to open!

Alice set us to work weeding areas of the site, cutting back enthusiastic plants (ivy, brambles), shifting wood chip and painting the shed and new compost toilet structure. We discovered interesting spiders (the Fake Black Widow with its round bottom, the Kardashian of the spider world maybe?!?), accidentally gave woodlice a blue tinge and marveled at the plants in the snazzy new poly-tunnel.

A warm welcome to Jules and Matty joining us for the first time, we hope to see you again! And a huge thank you to Alice for allowing us our repeated visits and being so welcoming and joyous!