Last night, on a beautiful summer evening, 14 GoodGym volunteers ran out to Alice Park to paint benches in the new wildlife area. As well as getting some great exercise we painted 4 benches and gave a new breath of life to the park.

Welcome along, Griff!

We met at our usual spot outside the leisure centre and welcomed a new runner, Griff. Thanks for coming along and getting involved last night, Griff. Hopefully we will see you again soon with your very own bright red GoodGym t-shirt!

GoodGym events at the weekend

I shared the latest running news with the group. At the weekend there are lots of events as part of the GoodGym West summer celebrations. You are welcome to come to as much or as little as you want or have time for. There is no obligation to come to all the events.

• There is a park run in Keynsham on Saturday morning (which you can either volunteer at or take part in).
• There is a volunteering task at Bramble Hill farm in Bristol.
• Note: you join some of the keener runners and run from the park run to Bramble Hill Farm if you want!
• After the farm task there is the GG West Summer party in Bristol.
• On Sunday there are races with a variety of distances in the Bath 2 tunnels.

I plan on doing all of these events (apart from running from Keynsham to Bramble Hill Farm!) and I know there are quite a few others from GG Bath that are getting involved as well, so let me or the organisers (GG Bristol team) know if you have any questions about anything. It would be really good to see you there!

Avin' a giraffe in the park!

After taking the scenic route along the beautiful canal path we arrived at Alice Park with plenty of time to spare. In fact, we had enough time for some extra training before we were ready to begin the task! I got the group involved in some animal-themed movement exercises. We walked like a giraffe, then a bear, then a gorilla, then a crab and then a praying mantis. It was a fun way to do some good exercise while we waited for the task to begin!

We woodn't want to be anywhere else on a Tuesday evening!

One we were finished exploring the animal kingdom, Tony introduced our task to us. We had to paint some benches in the new wildlife section at the back of the park. The benches have been damaged by the weather over the years and were desperately in need of some care and attention. We took our brushes and a few gallons of Medium Oak coloured paint and got to work!

Team work makes the dream work!

This was a task that required us to use our communication and teamwork skills to make sure we painted all the visible areas of the benches thoroughly while avoiding painting each other and getting paint everywhere. We were super efficient and when some of the groups had finished painting they hunted down litter in the area to keep it clean and tidy.

Painting in such a beautiful spot on a lovely evening was very therapeutic and a good reminder of how beneficial getting involved with activities like GoodGym can be for our mental health as well as our physical health. We will return to Alice Park at some point to continue our mission of developing the grounds so everyone can enjoy the open public space.

Thanks!

Thanks to Rachel and Emily for backmarking for us and making sure no one got lost or left behind on the way. Thanks to Tony at Alice Park for arranging for us to come down and sorting out the paint and brushes.

Upcoming runs at the weekend:

• Park run in Keynsham on Saturday morning (which you can either volunteer at or take part in),
• Volunteering at Bramble Hill farm
• Note: you join some of the keener runners and run from the park run to Bramble Hill Farm if you want!
• After the farm task there is the GG West Summer party.
• On Sunday there are races with a variety of distances in the Bath 2 tunnels.

Next Tuesday

We are using our painting skills again at St John's Court.

16 of us ran along to Alice Park to do some important maintenance work to the beautiful public space there. We spent a gorgeous and sunny evening running along the canal to paint some benches and sweep up the entrance to the park. We were really happy to run nearly 7km at a good pace.

Welcome Vicky and Kathryn!

We met at our usual spot outside the leisure centre, by the river. We had a good turnout tonight, including two new runners. We welcomed Vicky and Kathryn to their first run with GoodGym. Thanks for getting stuck in and helping us out last night! I hope you had fun and I hope you will be back to run with us again soon!

We took the scenic route along to Alice Park. We joined the canal path and ran by the water. It was a warm and sunny evening and we all enjoyed being outside. We paused at one point to gather our breath and managed to get some extra training in by doing some squats.

Our host, Tony, met us at the entrance to the park. Tony gave us an overview of the park and introduced the tasks for the evening. Our tasks revolved around maintaining and improving the facilities in the park. We broke into small teams to make sure we got everything done in the time we had!

We deserved a sanding ovation!

There were lots of small teams of runners painting benches. The benches are constantly exposed to the elements of English weather and haven't had a coat of paint in several years. First we sanded down the benches and then thoroughly painted them. We really let our inner-artists shine through!

We found that most of the benches drank up the paint really quickly, so we needed to give them several good coats of paint before we left. This was surprisingly more tiring that we first thought and we came away having done some good exercise.

What a sweep idea!

Several of our runners were on sweeping and tidying duty last night. The area around the cafe and entrance to the park needed a good sweep up. The area is used a great deal by community groups and all manner of leaves, rubbish and dirt builds up over time. We gave the area a thorough sweep and scooped up the rubbish for the bin. As well as making the park look tidier and appear cleaner this also makes the paths less slippery and safer for everyone to use.

I feel like we were going around in circles...

The park has recently had a circular path installed all the way around it. The path is exactly a third of a mile long and one of the purposes of the new path is to encourage more runners to come and train in the lovely outdoor space. Challenge accepted! We sent one of our speedier runners, Dan, for a lap around the path while were packing up the paint and paintbrushes. He just missed out on the course record (which is pretty good since he had been training earlier in the day and ran all the way there with us!).

We said goodbye to Tony (and his doggy, little Susie!) and thanked him for arranging for us to come along. There are plenty more opportunities for us to get involved and help improve the park so we will be back again soon, I am sure!

Goodbye, for now, Dan

We said goodbye to one of our regular runners, Dan, last night who is moving away from Bath. Thanks for all of your hard work and commitment over the past few years! Make sure to come back and visit us!

Upcoming runs

• This Saturday (25th May) we have been asked to clear a garden at a care home in Bath
• On Saturday 1st June we are gardening at Dry Arch Growers
• On Saturday 8th June there is a Community Mission to paint the children's section at Moorland Road Library
• On Saturday 8th June there is also a chance to help out at the Saltford Summer Festival
• Next week we are heading back to Alice Park to do some gardening!