8 Goodgymers spent their evening at one of their more regular haunts dubbed on the website as ‘a Secret Garden’ (in Widcombe). No, it’s not THE Secret Garden, you won’t find Mary Lennox playing there. Rather, it’s an old Baptist Burial Ground looked after by The Bath Preservation Trust, cheery! (It is actually quite lovely).

As a few GoodGymers ran their way to the Garden/Burial Ground, discussions were had around what our tasks today would be, as we had a larger group than normal. Would we or wouldn’t we be removing bind weed and brambles? How do we feel about pulling up bind weed and brambles? Suffice to say, and you won’t be surprised, we did pull up an abundance of bind weed and chopped down many a bramble. Some of us felt sad for said plants, I suppose they’d gone to all that effort to choke the life out of the other plants, and bind weed flowers look pretty. The brambles were even showing off their bounty of blackberries. We mused about uses for bind weed: could we fashion a rope? Did it have medicinal properties? Interestingly the leaves do contain a molecule that can treat hypertension and is also known to be a diuretic, among other things… so not all bad! (Thank you Wikipedia) The flowers are also important for sweat bees! (I’ll let you research those and no it’s not a typo).

But I digress… all GoodGymers assembled we took to the task assigned, with gusto, and as usual we cleared a sizeable space of bind weed and brambles within our allotted hour. Making light work of it if I do say so myself. Richard, Jerr and Ruth even managed to remove a blanket of the stuff; allowing flora and fauna underneath to be free and to grow and prosper, until the bind weed and brambles take hold again, and we will be back in a year clearing the same area! We will be ready!

Another good evening’s work team! Till next month at the not so secret, secret garden.

6 Goodgymers meet the team at Bath Preservation Trust to help remove the bind weed from the Southcot children's cementry.

At first glance it looked like we would barely make a dent. But after a good hours graft, the team cleared a huge area to stop the bind weed from climbing up trees, walls, grass and graves.

We also welcomed Fe for the first time to Goodgym Bath. Welcome Felicia we hope to see you again soon!

7 goodymers jogged or walked to the secret garden/cementry looked after by the Bath Preservation Trust in Widcombe. Up a short alley and hidden behind giant gates lies the land that time forgot.

Overgrown with nettles and bind weed, the team began to clear huge sections of the garden to reveal the ancient wall markings indicating where burials lie.

The team did a fantastic job and in no time the area looked so much better!

Fingers crossed for not too much sunshine and showers as the weeds will return with a vengence

6 Goodgymers headed to a small and secret garden just off Lyncombe hill to help the Bath Preservation Trust.

Provided with sheers, clippers, gloves and determination we cleared large areas of holly, bind wind and brambles to reveal the garden wall and borders once again.

It's a huge task and we cleared a large corner in just one hour. It's amazing what can be acheived with 6 people.

Well done team! Until next time :)

Today was gonna be the day when GoodGym returned to Southcot burial ground. You might call it an "Oasis" in the heart of Bath, full of bluebells and other wildflowers among the gravestones.

Our task was to remove the ivy from the wall and restore it to its "morning glory". The site is looked after by Bath Preservation Trust who were very clear about its dangers. Although the plant looks attractive, one website describes it as "one of the most pernicious, nasty and destructive of the invasive plants." Left unchecked, its rootlets burrow into masonry, weakening it and eventually causing it to collapse.

Gloved up and armed with loppers, we took on the green enemy, ripping it from the stone and throwing it to the rest of the team who wheeled it away to add to a growing pile. With the help of Colin from BPT we achieved quite a transformation - as you can see from the before and after photo.

"And all the roads that lead you there were winding..." Special mention should go to Liza and Jer for completing the group run to the mission.

"And by now, you should've somehow realised what you gotta do..." And a GoodGym welcome to Liza, Caroline and her dog Bosley for their first session. You've gotta "Roll with it!".

Apologies to Liam and Noel Gallagher for the dreadful puns!

Weed did it! GoodGym Bath takes on the graveyard shift

There are a number of hidden gems in Bath from Ralph Allen’s town house to Brown’s Folly mines but this was a new one for me. Jill from Bath Preservation Trust revealed a secret garden when she unlocked the wrought iron gate to Southcot Burial Ground. The Baptist cemetery dates back to 1810 and is usually only seen by the public once a year on heritage open days.

It has become badly overgrown so GoodGym have been called in to bring it under control. The team spent an enjoyable hour wrestling with brambles and playing tug o war with bindweed. The task tested our gardening gloves to the limits with the occasional yelp of pain when there was a particularly troublesome briar.

We had the advantage of numbers. Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow was filled with the fruit of our labours while Jer just carried the cuttings himself, a green man piled high with coils of weeds. I wish I’d caught it on camera.

This space pays tribute to the lives of past Bathonians and there is still plenty more to do to tidy it up - but we certainly made an impression.