Bright and early on Sunday morning, two GoodGym Leeds members headed over to the Farsley Rehoboth to help with the reclamation work.

Gemma and Jason arrived at the burial site, just dodging the rain. Gemma arriving slightly muddy after a bike ride on the canal. After a quick tour of the site, the two GoodGym members got stuck right in with tasks. Jason helped to cut and trim overhanging branches whilst Gemma cleared an overgrown grave (check out the before and after pictures).

Jason and Gemma worked with other volunteers to get the work done, both learning lots about the history of the site and the people buried there. It was a great morning of work and we are looking forward to heading back to help at the site soon.

This was the first task for Jason - exciting to have another great member of GoodGym Leeds!

On Sunday 2nd January three members of GoodGym Leeds headed over to Farsley Rehoboth to help with clearing work at the grounds. Katie, Jenny and Suzie made a real difference and the Rehoboth were really grateful for their help.

This time the task was to find and remove stones in an area of the cemetery so that it can be more easily leveled by a digger. In the spring, Rehoboth is planning on beginning to bury ashes in this area of the cemetery, so that it become a working cemetery again.

We managed to create a small mountain of very large stones, including some that were very decorative. Volunteers assured us that they weren't parts of old headstones, but most likely from a vicarage that once stood in the cemetery, which was moved brick by brick to another site. Apparently they didn't quite move every brick, and seem to have left the U-bend behind! This was a great physical task, and we were very proud of our pile of stones by the end.

We have been back to the Rehoboth many times and are really enjoying seeing how the space is developing. We will be back at the Rehoboth on Sunday 9th January and again several times over the next few months so that we can support the dedicated team of volunteers at the Rehoboth to develop the space for the community both now and in the future.

Yesterday afternoon, three GoodGym runners headed over to Farsley Rehoboth to help out with their restoration work.

Jenny, Gemma and Jade arrived at the Rehoboth just after 1pm and quickly got stuck in and hauled rocks and rubble to help create a supporting wall for the newly built footpath. The three GoodGym runners worked together with a couple of other volunteers to create an efficient rock moving system. In 90 minutes, the team had moved huge amounts of material and created a strong supporting wall.

GoodGym Leeds have developed a great relationship with the Rehoboth and are already looking forward to the next community mission!

This morning two GoodGym members cycled over to Farsely Rehoboth to help out with their restoration work.

Suzie and Gemma helped to get the site, which is undergoing extensive clearing and renovation work, supplied with electricity. The electricity supply will be used for power tools and for supplying hot water for volunteers, amongst other essential things. Suzie and Gemma did this by working with other volunteers to coax and pull a cable through a 200m section of underground piping - like a controlled tug of war.

Suzie and Gemma were also shown around the rest of the site and were able to see how the work of other GoodGym members had made a difference.

GoodGym Leeds will be returning to the Rehoboth on May 23rd!

7 members of GoodGym Leeds returned to Farsley Rehoboth Cemetery to help the regular volunteers clear more of the overgrown vegetation and trees. We started by chopping up and moving large piles of sticks and wood that had been cleared from trees at one end of the graveyard to a bonfire at the other end. Nicky, one of the regular volunteers and designated chief fire maker, was feeding the wood to the fire almost as quickly as we could get it to her. As we made our way up and down the path carrying comically large sticks, Suzie observed that we looked "like the ants in bug's Life carrying food back to the colony". Whilst some of us carried on, hoping that a giant locust wasn't going to squash us, some of the group were assigned the very important job of measuring bricks. Using a very technical measuring method (a stick that was about the right length) they identified which bricks were suitable for use in the wall being built at the back of the cemetery. Once we'd cleared a large area, where a house had once been built and then moved brick by brick somewhere else, we all said goodbye and headed off home, excited to come back and help again soon.

Five goodgymmers Liam, Rob , Carol ,Damu and Jennyarrived at Rehoboth Cemetry to lend a hand at clearing, cleaning and cutting shrubs, weeds and rubble away to make a new path and to help build the boundary walls.

Upon arrival we were greeted by John who gave us an overview of the history of the site, the work that has been carried out since we last visited and a safety briefing. We were impressed by the amount of progress that has been made in a short space of time

Damu , Jenny and Carol set to work removing ivy, branches and debris from the path to make it accessible. We stumbled across an army of ants and slugs under a plastic sheet which stopped us in our tracks for a moment. Adam took the lead of clearing branches and leaves leading up to the ancient toilet chamber! A wooden green shed that once was used as a toilet but looked very similar to shek’s swamp shack.

Meanwhile Liam, and Rob ,were tasked with helping to build the stone wall around the perimeter of the cemetery. This involved looking for rocks and rubble to fit between the stones to reinforce the structure of the wall. They shared a pleasant conversation with Robin one of the static volunteers at Rohoboth who had been there since 9am this morning building the wall. Robin mentioned they were down to ‘skeleton staffing’ today… haha.

By the end of the 2 hours we had accomplished quite a lot and the path was more recognisable as a path and the wall was looking mighty strong and steady!

You can stay up-to-date with the project by following Friends at Farsley Rehoboth on facebook and twitter where they post news and the latest developments.