Another warm night for the assembled GoodGymmers to tackle the bramble takeover at Hebron Burial Ground - that which was looking clear in Spring is definitely NOT now, so we took on the task of clearing some space (and eating berries from the older growth. Brambles without berries? What is the point?!

Lewis joined us for his first task and made short work of the path to the compost heap with Jason, Tom and Rach otoived there was an elderflower/berry tree in the middlenof the brambles whilst Caroline, Richard and Frances tried to meet Melanie on the other side of the space where berries COULD be seen. Alas, nor quite enough time, but at least 3 cats were seen

100% walking group this week, with a soggy meet-up but much drier session.

Walking means more chat which means many, many more tangential voyages of language and knowledge and also less time at the task so everyone grabbed tools at the Burial Ground which had turned very tall and green with fresh growth of nettles and brambles. Which were all really quite soggy.

By the time we finished up, the path in was much more accessible and we found some ripened brambles to help us build up a need for cake as we celebrated Ed's 100th good deed with a Slinky caterpillar cake that only seemed to cut into HUGE slices - which was convenient!

A grave day for brambles when GoodGym comes to town. What are we doing today, Brain? The same thing we do every week, Pinky! Armed with our usual plethora of tools we snipped, whacked and nibbled away at the undergrowth at Hebron Burial Ground. There was important cat business to be had and a myriad of topics to discuss. Snail orgy anyone?

and now for something completely different:

If a cat sat in a hat would it like that? If a cow said hi to you now would it say ciao?

Personally I think a cat would but the cow one needs more research. Maybe just Italian cows and ones that are very fancy. Anyway thats enough stream of consciousness writing for today.

Until next time…

The forecasted drizzle didn't put off the runners and walkers this evening...if they'd have known it was biblical levels of rain, it might have been a different story! We welcomed Ieva for her first run tonight, and I made a 99% promise that she would never be as wet as she was for her first one, and I'm sure she'll be back saying how much she loved the running, the volunteering and the people! Jerry was surprised we came in the rain, but was very grateful we did and for how much we've managed to clear over the dark winter months. Clock's go forward this weekend, so when we're next at Hebron, we won't need lights! We finished a little earlier than usual as the rain was relentless and those of us that headed in to Workout were greeted by a table next to the radiator :-) Thanks for the rainy photo Frances

We had a sunset! We saw stars because there were no clouds! We had new GoodGymmer Shubham with is for the first time! How good could this get?

As the walkers arrived they could hear the chip-chopping of the runners, already socking it to the brambles as we try to find the wall on the far side of the Burial Ground, progressing across the entire width of the previously bramble-filled space.

With Richard B swanning around somewhere soggy, Richard G took ownership of the Shears of Destruction to make excellent progress to the wall, even if he did trap himself behind the new wall of chopped bramble.

Meanwhile Cameron and Nachiket created a tunnel to the back fence after Cameron had already helped Caroline to clear the tool shed of encroaching brambles.

Whilst Vaguely Northern Darren raked up choppage, the main team were working on the latest bulk-of-brambles zone, revealing more gravestones - the whole space is looking lovely, before the brambles and nettles get a burst of energy is Spring.

The day's discovery was a babyfoot table, though it turns out only Melanie knows thats what its really called, not table football.

We all tried to learn a but of Japanese but we're finding it really hard - anyone have any tips?

More opportunities for good deeds this week, and a walk around the Light Festival on Friday, too - see you soon?

We have made so much difference to the winter view of the Burial Ground - lots of the previously-hidden gravestones can now be seen as soon as you enter the green space as the bramble forest has been cut to just a few inches - now to see what happens in Spring...

We were joined by Jen for the first time, a recruit from Greville Smyth junior parkrun volunteering, who quickly joined in the chopping mission to find the ground as well as the gravestones. Operation Find The Wall is now underway, having successfully cleared all the way to the far path.

Soundtrack for the evening was mostly experiences of volunteering at Glastonbury (trying to stop festival-goers contaminating the watercourses by encouraging them to use the provided loos) to childhood experiences of being blamed for things which a sibling had done, including sibling's graffiti-ing walls or windowsills in a less-than-sophisticated way. But also times the GoodGymmer had been the sibling causing the mischief...

Lots of chat and lots of chopping, Richard B as ever getting as much done in their Solo spot as the rest of us put together. The Whirling Dervish of Bristol GoodGym.

Time to pack up and move out, Vaguely Northern Darren went back to look for Melanie's missing non-gardening glove which was mysteriously found under the now quite soggy lights in her bag - if only there was a light on whilst putting the lights in the bag...

The rain and chill had lessened considerably for the journey back and we were lulled into a fall sense of dryness and warmth at Workout as we enjoyed our post-run/walk tea, hot chocolate, chai or pint. Until we were putting soggy hats, gloves and jackets back on. Roll on the bramble-growth of Spring but also warmer rain!