On a dark evening, with extreme downpour of rain sporadically happening, 3 hardcore goodgymers met to do good. Bringing joy was their mission, and tonight's recipient was the wonderful Cwtch Together.

A couple more tarpaulin laid outback, to help keep down the nettles. Then moving to the front, removing stinging plants and those encroaching on the pathway.

Tonight was the perfect time to try out the night mode on the camera too, no flash required.

Time to head back to the Glassworks for some games and food. Fantastic.

Another Tuesday, another concert in the City. Back to our old starting location of Sport Wales, on what turned out to be an extremely hot day.

First, we welcomed to our group for their first task - Will

Croeso Will

It was a lovely route to the task in the Summer sun, and out of the hustle and bustle of the concert. Michael had found some donated tarpaulin from his allotment that was going to Cwtch Together to help supress the nettles at the back of the building that they use. The bag was quite a challenge and certainly slowed his run down, but determination got everyone there on time and ready for WATER....

After some very welcomed water, we got our tools out from the store and set ourselves up into groups. 2 volunteers for the front garden, to cut the lawn and strim the edges - thanks Su & Will. The remaining three to tackle the nettles out back, loppers and shears at the ready - watch out for those stingys David, Emily & Llion.

We realised that the strimmer was out of wire, so Michael quickly ran to the store to find more and get the strimmer set up again to actual help cut. After a few minutes of fiddling, winding, rewinding after using to much wire and more cutting, we finally had a workable strimmer.

Michael took a few pictures before heading to the back to help with the nettles with the power of his RAKE. The conversations got a little strange as we tackled the rest of the nettles, from Shakin Stevens and whether that was slang for someone with drug issues (NO) to the smell of a ladybird infestation (hmmm). Maybe the heat was getting to us more than we'd realised.

As we cut and battered down the nettles we were attacked by a swarm cloud of insects and moths, and spotted more ladybird larvae. Once most of the nettles were down we quickly laid out the tarpaulin and weighted it with some slabs, now we wait for the worms to do their job and take those pesky greens down into the soil. There was plenty of space too for any insects to find their way out from under the cover, so please don't worry about them!

Learning ALERT

There are about 5,000 different species of ladybirds in the world. These much loved critters are also known as lady beetles or ladybugs, and in many cultures they’re considered good luck. They come in many different colours and patterns, but the most familiar in the UK is the seven-spot ladybird, which has a shiny, red-and-black body. Gardeners and farmers love them because they eat aphids and other plant-eating pests. And boy do they eat – in it’s year-long life, a single seven-spot ladybird can gobble more than 5000 aphids!

Seven-spot ladybirds are native to Europe but were introduced to North America in the mid-1900s to control aphid populations.

Ladybirds live for around a year (sometimes 2) are up to 1cm in length and can reach speed of 24km/h.

With lighter evenings for our runs it's finally starting to feel like Spring time.

Tonight, we returned to Cwtch Together to help once more...It was time for a wipe down and clean up inside the hall to get those grubby marks from the radiators, doors and walls wherever possible. Inside were our task organiser, Sarah along with Imy, Lucy and Benjamin, whilst outside were Darren, Andrew and Dylan sweeping and weeding down the side of the hall. Finally, around the back and battling the carpet of nettles were Lucy, Su, Dylan and Jonathan.

It was all go against those pesky nettles as the group were hard at work with secatuers, loppers and shears, then rakes and spades were the tools of choice. Wait.......is it time?

Learning Time

Urtica dioica L., also known as stinging nettle, is a perennial plant. It is a plant that’s edible and has nutritional and medicinal properties. Young leaves can be used to make curries, herb soups, and sour soups. The root of the stinging nettle is used to treat mictional difficulties associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia, while the leaves are used to treat arthritis, rheumatism, and allergic rhinitis. Its leaves are abundant in fiber, minerals, vitamins, and antioxidant compounds like polyphenols and carotenoids, as well as antioxidant compounds like polyphenols and carotenoids. Stinging nettle has antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, analgesic, anti-infectious, hypotensive, and antiulcer characteristics, as well as the ability to prevent cardiovascular disease, in all parts of the plant (leaves, stems, roots, and seeds). Stinging nettle improves fish reproductive performance, making it a cost-effective aquaculture plant. Fertilizer and insecticides can be made from the plants.

So maybe it's time to rethink the classic "stinging nettle".

See you all next week - get signed up - here

At long last a dry looking Tuesday, Daylight during the run out - Spring is most definitely on the way.

Croeso

To our two new runners from tonights, Charlotte and Alex. It was great to have you along for the run and the task, hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Two different routes tonight to mix it up as we made our way out with T's emblazoned with the goodgym for all to see, a good temperature = crew on brand! Cwtch together is a great regular run for us now, and we always enjoy helping out there - it's been so wonderful to see it develop over the years. You can see what they are about here

Tonight was all about the prep for Spring, as the nicer weather looms ever nearer, the children and young people will want to run around the outside areas even more. So, to action........

• Remove the weeds at the bottom of all the fencing
• Reattach a board to the bottom of the front gate
• Clear up the leaves from the side of the building
• Lay two bags of white pebbles at the bottom of the fence (look for the gaps)
• Mow some of the lawn......

Mow the lawn at night?

Yes, you did read correctly. Thankfully we have the ever trusted Bat Lights....No to be confused with the Bat Signal.

With no time to spare, everyone got busy, let's see how much we can get done. Michael even joined in tonight tackling the mowing duties as much as possible. 30 minutes went by before we knew it, and we had managed most of the list, with some of the lawn still to do. We had saved time with the grass by mowing without a grass catcher on the back - and letting the clippings remain on the garden for those wonderful worms that we learnt about in a previous report.

https://www.goodgym.org/reports/u-leaf-t-me-up

Learning Time

• Grass clippings contain 4% nitrogen, 2% potassium, and 1% phosphorus along with small amounts of other plant nutrients.
• When decomposed, grass clippings also serve as a food source for microbial life in the soil - including our friendly worms.

Thanks All, see you again, same time next week.

On a very windy evening 11 goodgymers went to help a local charity. It was blustering on the run, but not so bad when the wind was behind you!

Michael arrived with a bag of litter pickers, just because. They are almost becoming part of the Cardiff goodgym kit now.

Tonight we hit our target for the January Challenge of 100 deeds. Well done everyone, and let’s see where we can get too with the remaining days in January. We are now on 107

Smashed it

Tonight we were heading around the back at the wonderful Cwtch Together to tackle the overgrown brambles and the weeds in the walkway. It had been nearly a year since we undertook this task last, and at first glance it seemed unachievable. But goodgymers will NOT be beaten.

Michael and Sophie were first in, sweeping the brambles away with legs, cutting the bases and sweeping out walkway. Next in were the Dylans, the Lucys, Jonathan and Emma. The brambles were cut quicker than they could be bagged, a Buddleia was also removed before it grew back too much. Flo, Martin and Ben had gotten to work in the walkway, clearing away the 'weeds'.

After 30 hard minutes of volunteering, it was time to put the tools away and get a group photo before heading back.

An interesting conversation at out post run social as one of the team was taken with a crisp bag - yes, you have read that right. Brown Bag crisps (other brands are available) use the same letter B for two words, WOW amazing.

This led to the conversation of how to make the colour Brown, on to Primary colors (or not), secondary colors etc. So, to put an end to the debate

In some rather blowy winds tonight, we met up once again for a goodgym session. After a couple of weeks break for most of us, it was lovely to see the smiling faces back for a brand-new year.

And of course, a NEW CHALLEGE – that’s right you goodgym crew, we have our JANUARY CHALLENGE officially started.

The Challenge that we have set for Cardiff is as follows:

• 100 deeds to be completed, so the more of you that we can get to a task the more chance we will have of hitting our target.
• And, a 1500km to be run, walked – so don’t forget to log those activities and connect your Strava to your goodgym profile.

2 groups today with joggers and walkers alike, some of us decided to take a longer route and make the most of that first group run ‘feeling’. Oh and what delights awaited us.......

For the first time, tonight we were setting up for the play group......

Waaaaaaaaaaaaa toyyysssss

First, remove the gaffer tape from the floor for a good clean. Next, lets get those tables out from their sleep and throw them around the room (figuratively). Now for the fun, it’s time for a goodgym chain, as we pass the soft play, mats and toys from the storage unit into the hall.

And the skies open and weep at the joy that we feel on this task.

Now to get set up, toys are flying, stories are being made as they are placed so very carefully. We did get slightly carried away with this task and spent a bit of extra time.

But it was

WORTH EVERY EXTRA MINUTE.

It will probably be no longer than 20 minutes before it’s all over the floor, but it looks good for those young people when they arrive. We have plenty up on our site now, including some weekend community missions with Global Gardens, or a lovely litter pick stroll through Bute Park. I’m also adding some sunset runs too so keep an eye out for the next group e-mail for more information.

Until next time.