A new task for GoodGym Cambridge, heading to St Andrew's Church in Chesterton to help clear cut grass from the churchyard.

Scott and I met for a social run round Stourbridge Common, making the most of the beautiful evening. Once at the church, we were joined by Ilse, Caroline, Debbie and Beth, all keen for some GoodGym magic on a sunny Sunday.

The Church is part of Cambridgeshire Churchyards Conservation and a dedicated group of volunteers work to promote biodiversity in the churchyard. Growing wildflowers to support pollinators is a big part of the work and getting management of the grass right will determine the success. 🐝 We learned that if grass cuttings are left to rot into the ground, the soil becomes too rich for wildflowers to grow. 🌼

With the grounds spanning 3 acres, there was A LOT of grass to clear. Dispersing, we each covered a section, raking and packing into massive sacks for collection. It was one of our most physical tasks to date, and we were all really feeling it by the end of the session 😅

Scott was treated to a visit from a cinnabar moth - absolutely stunning and very on brand 🦋

We took a much needed refreshment break and a trip down memory lane with cups of Rose's lime cordial. Just the right level of tang.

With multiple sacks filled, and muscles aching, we called it an evening. Before heading off we spent some time talking with the church conservation volunteers to hear more about their plans to improve nature. A wholesome way to round off Great Big Green Week 💚

Pun credit: Scott

The Shindig 2026 Sunday walk had something for everyone, combining history and nature along 5km of trails around YHA National Forest. With nods to the area's industrial past in a beautiful countryside setting, 25 GoodGymers joined for a very mindful morning.

We walked through Conkers, along the Ashby Canal, past Moira Furnace and around Donisthorpe Woodland Park, before heading along part of the Ashby Woulds Heritage Trail (a disused railway) back to base.

The highlight was stumbling across a Living History Camp as part of an event at Moira Furnace Museum. As well as a history lesson, we got a snapshot of the more simple parts of wartime life. Not something you see every day!

Good movement, good time in nature, and good connection, what better way to round up another beautiful GoodGym Shindig weekend 💛

It was a bumper parkrun weekend for GoodGym Cambridge!

Caroline was on volunteering duties at Milton Country parkrun. For her 25th parkrun volunteering milestone, she gave the first timers welcome and helped with pack-down, as well as baking purple(ish) cakes to celebrate and share with the other volunteers 💜🫐

On the weekend of parkrun's one millionth event, the rest of the team attended at various locations to join the party. We also had: • Josie at Oxford University Parks • Harriet at Fulbourn Hospital • Chris at Muncaster Castle • Catherine at Conkers

Great work everyone, and here's to the next million! 🫶

Flying the flag for GoodGym, I teamed up with six Abbey People community members for a highly productive two-hour session maintaining greenspace in Barnwell as part of the Seeds of Hope conservation project 🌿

Together, the team pulled up thousands of invasive saplings to clear the way for richer local biodiversity. The massive effort was rewarded during the break with a welcome round of tea, coffee and biscuits hosted by Caitlin, the dedicated lead for Abbey People.

It was also good to see the gooseberries planted last year are fruiting nicely. 🫐

This week's task saw us back at Jimmy's serving dinner to residents.

A delicious meal of lasagna had been prepared and was ready and waiting for us to serve. We had a few residents at the hatch when we arrived, so we needed to get going quickly. Setting up a serving line, Daiana was a pro on lasagna, Andrew took on garlic bread, Caroline mastered salad, and I was in charge of dessert. A streamlined operation! Everyone was delighted to see the famous carrot cake on the menu with a few even requesting seconds.

With residents fed, we turned our attention to clearing up. The highlight was definitely getting to cover the leftovers using the cling film machine. Caroline was particularly excited to take the lead on this job and had all plates wrapped in not time at all!

It had been a little while since we'd all seen each other, so we had a great time catching up and hearing about South American adventures 🇵🇪🇧🇷

It was a celebratory session with Caroline giving her black t-shirt its first outing. To celebrate her amazing 5️⃣0️⃣ good deeds, we took a trip to Jack's for gelato, the only way to mark the occasion 🍦

Having also received our personalised first aid kits, it really was quite the day!

We had another great session supporting Strawberry Fair this weekend. This time taking down the fences we'd put up last week!

Welcoming Becky to her first GoodGym task 👋 we met with Eva and headed over to the volunteer area to get kitted out. Still no left hand gloves to be found (where are they??) so we went with one glove each. To compensate, we had brand new shiny high vis jackets, which were so bright you couldn't miss us 🦺

We certainly got our steps in working at 3 different locations across the site. First up was the Big Top where we were moving paint cans, tables and chairs ready for collection. The round tables were particularly tricky to manoeuvre with their wayward legs, but we managed it with some coordinated teamwork. We were then over at the soap box area moving wood planks into a storage compound. Again, not an easy task as they were tricky to balance! Lastly, the site team had already made an impressive start at removing over 4km of fencing, and we helped to take down some of the perimeter fencing. With Eva and Becky on fence panels and me on the bases, we made swift work of it and definitely felt like we'd had a good workout afterwards 💪

As we headed back to the volunteer tent, we noticed it had gone! After an initial panic, all was well and we found Kirsty and our belongings in the marquee. We returned our vests slightly less shiny than they started, a sign of some hard graft. 🦺

See you again next year! 🍓

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It was a busy running weekend too.

👟 On Saturday, Caroline signed up last minute to pace at Coldham's common parkrun, coming in right on time and helping runners reach their goals.

🏅On Sunday, Scott got a PB at the Flaming June half marathon. After coming back from injury, this is a great achievement, well done 🙌