And what a lovely morning it was, dry and bright, warm and breeze free. I was even early, there was optimism in the air the likes of which I haven't felt for ages.

Lovely Alice Park Community Garden, a firm favourite amongst the GoodGym Bath collective, this morning was host to Cosmo, Nev and Meyrick and today's task was (I may be exaggerating a little here) a full on on engineering masterclass.

First there was what they call their chandelier, a wrapped and packaged collection of dried leaves and plants in the shape of a hanging chandelier. This had been suspended beneath the centre of their covered area, but the wind had gotten the better of it and it had blown down to the ground. Our task was to re-suspend it and if we could engineer a way to raise and lower it, then so much the better.

We actually achieved a solution to this, however the friction of string on wood made it impossible to move. What we need are a few eyelets to run the string through, which were not available on the day but should be when we return next month.

As if we hadn't engineered the poop out of things already, we had time left to construct a frame to support a squash bed that would be growing on it. This needed to be pretty sturdy as squashes are heavy. Again, solution found, I bet even the biggest squash in the world could hang off of that.

We can check out how good our work has been in a month when we return, come and join us on one of GoodGym Bath's favourite missions!!

Emily, Meryick and Cosmo, descended upon Alice Park vegetables garden once more. Often structures are maintained or improved upon. Tools were collected and working out the job were decided, amongst the general chit chat. I, needed a caffeine boost to help me on my way. Wood was weaved, tied in and shortened for a good structure feature to compliment the greenery and look/aesthetic of the community plot. I turned compost, for plants to have soil nutrition as they grow towards their best for summer display and autumn harvest. A warming drink, was provided for refreshment and a good morning work was done. It was good to keep the garden looking its best as we go towards mid summer. Well done guys! (old photo provided as haven't uploaded phone photos.

Myself, Meyrick and Bennath embraced the grey, dampness of last Sunday morning and helped out in the community garden. We met with the chair of Alice Park, who gave the exciting news that the park has been gifted a Sycamore Gap tree sapling, one of just 49 in existence. We were asked to help smarten up a tree guard which will protect the sapling. We sanded off the old peeling paint, while Bennath also multi -tasked with some compost turning, and then gave the guard a coat of shiny new paint.

We have been invited back on Saturday 21st February for the official planting of the famous sapling, which will be planted in honour of local looked after children.

Hope to see you there!

It was all about the compost on Sunday in Alice Park... Richard, Emily and Meyrick got stuck into a compost production line - shovelling, sieving and wheelbarrowing, and then got to build a compost lasagne, layering up leafy bits, cardboard, grass, yum! Then multi tasker Meyrick also worked with Cosmo in the greenhouse, processing compost from tomato plants, ready to be re-used and recycled next year... We finished up with tea and cake to celebrate Meyrick's amazing 200 GoodGym tasks!

We welcomed new GoodGymmer Jo this sunny Sunday morning, at one of our regular and favourite gardens! Excellent teamwork made short work of our task of chopping down Cardoons and then arranging them in the flowerbed, so they can seed themselves over the winter ready for next year's growing. We then moved onto pruning hedges to make a bird box accessible, and help maintain the garden. In between all the pruning, we took the time to admire the wildlife friendly pond, which GoodGym helped to give a new lease of life to earlier this summer. We even spotted a dazzling dragonfly enjoying its new home :) photo credit Meyrick and Kathy. Our host Kathy then very kindly brewed up some 'tea of the garden' for us to enjoy, just as the rain came down! Thanks Meyrick and Jo for your hard work, hope to see you at the next mission!

The regular volunteers at Alice Park Community garden were pleased to welcome back 4 GoodGymmers on Sunday... Meyrick did a great job raising a water butt to allow water flow, Max worked hard shovelling compost while David got chopping to process fallen tree branches. Emily and David then had a mindfulness-like task of stripping leaves from the branches - we were left with a wheelbarrow full of compostable leaves and several ladybirds were rescued in the process :)