6 GoodGymers met on a mild (unless you're from a hot country....) November evening to sweep, mop, vacuum and wipe down the Colchester FoodBank.

It was lovely to meet Mzi and Hamza for the first time who both got stuck in straight away sweeping and mopping.

The FoodBank was soon much cleaner than it started and we left satisfied with a good job done!

Two heavy bags of litter were gathered up by two Goodgymers in an hour, during a quick pick around the neighbourhood. Highlights included - seeing another local litter picker out busy gathering trash as well, and collecting a hat, tie, and sock, amongst the usual red bull cans, sweet wrappers and drinks cups.

4 GoodGymers, 1 mini GoodGymer, a social prescriber and a few parish councillors joined together on a sunny Sunday morning to clear a former community garden. The area had become densely overgrown and unused, but we managed clear the whole area down to the ground and uncovered remnants of a statue plinth, mosaic and community garden sign.

Lots of hard work, but well worth it to see the difference we made, and to imagine what the garden may eventually look like and how it could be used.

Shout out to Oliver, it was great to meet you on your first GoodGym mission!

5 GoodGymers met Pam and a couple of other volunteers from Colchester in Bloom to empty the planters on the high street, ready for them to be filled with beautiful new plants later this week.

We removed the plants, dug about to remove any remaining roots, emptied some of the soil to make room for some new, cleared up the mess, removed any litter and loaded Pam's car. All while having a good catch up and accepting compliments and gratitude from the passing public.

If anyone is able to help them, Colchester in Bloom will be meeting at the town hall at 10 this Friday morning to put in the new plants.

Completed our Beewalk season for this year in Castle Park. Saw lots of bees. Support wild bees in your area - lots of resources available on the Bumblebee Conservation Trust's website.

After a bit of a slow start due to our usual access route to the Foodbank being unavailable, Alexander, Grace and Nazir got straight to work sweeping the whole of the FoodBank's large warehouse floor while Louise started mopping and vacuuming. Before long the whole floor was done, and the colour of the water tipped away suggested we had left the site significantly cleaner!