Tonight was the night. The stars aligned, the figures added up, Matt's beady eyes on GoodGym stats came to great use and the five years of Bristol GoodGymers being jolly good people culminated in

GoodGym Bristol hitting 10,000 Good Deeds!!

Just two weeks after GoodGym hit a grand old total of 100,000 good deeds, you have shown what a massive contribution you have all been. You are all amazing!

But first, what Good Deed got us up to this big old milestone? We gathered in our usual spot to run out to Easton to return to Cafe Connect. It was great to have some new runners with us tonight - welcome to Gemma, Rhiannon and Teresa! Libby and her team at Cafe Connect are planning to do a grand reopening of the space as soon as they can, and had drawn up a big list of tasks to keep all 34 GoodGymers well and truly occupied. The team were quickly split into small teams each with their own tasks.

The Garden Group

The painting team gave the inside and outside walls a fresh lick of paint to finish off the job they had started last time. The gardening team got green-fingered by giving the tomato plants a helping hand and planting some new ones. The wood-chopping team got ferocious with saws and axes to split up wood into kindling.

The Kitchen Kids

In the kitchen, the group did a stellar job keeping their hands above their heads for half an hour, and had the added bonus of taking down lots of excess plastic and foam from the kitchen which will massively help the Cafe Connect team with their health and safety.

The Cafe Crew

Inside, Kait found her new passion for varnishing (if you need a varnisher, you know who to call) and Gary got reunited with the table he so lovingly sanded all those weeks ago. The magnetic board team spent a long time holding the board against the wall (shown beautifully by Alex and Freddie in the pictures). After 30 minutes, they realised that they couldn't actually stand there until the cafe opened, so the team eventually found some nails to keep it in place miraculously hands-free.

After a speedy half an hour, much to the group's disappointment, we had to pack up our toys and head back on our 3km run home. The group zoomed along, and we were soon stretching off our evening's antics. Little did we realise that Matt was going to be trumping his own birthday cake (but not his own face on his birthday bottle) with the 10,000 good deeds, showstopping, Carl the Caterpillar cake, topped by an impressive array of numbered sparklers. These were so decidedly hard to light that it led to a fantastic countdown from well...one to..zero. We very much appreciated each one though, Matt!

The most important sporting event of the day

Tonight, the world watched as two closely-matched teams went head-to-head.

One has a much smaller population but had a strong set of skills. The other had a bigger population and the endurance required to keep up the pace. Both were prepped for the high expectations upon them. They arrived on the pitch just before 7pm, mesmerised their audience with their enthusiasm and commitment and they did not stop until the hard work was done.

I am, of course, talking about the two task groups who helped at the Reconnect Project and Dame Emily Park.

Team 1: A lot at stake

Not only did Mel excel herself with such a wonderful pun it now graces the title of this report, she also led a group on a stake-erecting expedition to Dame Emily Park. Unfortunately, the council mowed down the beautiful wildflowers that had been planted in the park. The GoodGymers met with Ursula, who had managed to gather posts to put around them to protect them going forward. Following the recent heatwave, this job was a lot harder than it seemed at first, and it took a lot of hardwork, force and willpower to get those stakes firmly in the ground. The group managed to put eight protective stakes in the ground and water 100 lavender plants in between. Their hard-work was rewarded by some much-appreciated biscuits, which went to good use as they fueled them to find six Gromits on their way home!

Team 2: Reconnecting

Meanwhile, the second group headed to Cafe Connect, part of the Reconnect Project in Easton. Although a small space, the cafe are preparing for a reopening in September and so had lots of jobs for us to do to help them. Libby and the team quickly set us to work in different groups, putting up magnetic noticeboards, polyfilla-ing and painting corners inside, sanding the serving table, planting tomato plants, painting the outdoor walls and moving bits to the roof. Everyone was having such a good time using their tools that it was with several disappointed 'awws' that we rested our tools and headed back with a promise to revisit to continue our work soon.

Unlike other, inferior, sporting feats of the night, none of our teams went home disappointed tonight, but proud of a hard effort and good run on a July Tuesday eve. Well done everyone!

Two groups today with Liam kindly stepping up to take a group to Café Connect in Easton (no painting - but sounds like they had fun!)

Westbury Park Fete at St Alban's Church

A second hilly GG adventure for the week as my group took the rather hilly route up Christmas Steps and St Michael's Hill to reach out destination at St Alban's church in Westbury Park. Have to say that we must have had some strong hill climbers today though as everyone managed to stay in a tight group and tough it out together. The drink of water (and cake) supplied on our arrival was still very welcome though!

Our task today was to put out some tables and hang bunting in the hall and garden areas around the church ready for the fête. Using the supplied map we were able to arrange the furniture and also to get a tantalising glimpse of their future roles, the Pimms table sounding particularly appealing (see authentic Pimms ordering reconstruction in the photos)

We were also able to give the whole outside area a little polish with Charlie taking on a quick litter pick (finding three balls and what I believe to be an Ankylosaurus in the process) and several of us doing a spot of weeding and brushing.

As we prepared to leave for the descent homeward we took one last look around and I think we were all impressed by how much much more appealing the space looked after all our hard work (see authentic cream tea reconstruction in the photos)

Cafe Connect

The second group headed off on a mercifully flat run to help Cafe Connect, a social enterprise that uses its profits to fund local charities. Once there we separated into groups and got stuck into multiple different tasks. We dismantled an ailing Gazebo held together by tape and cable ties and in its place we erected a glorious new one, we cleaned out various fridges and freezers, gave the windows and surfaces a good clean, hefted a bag full of clay and finished up with a mopping and sweeping of the floors. Once we'd finished we were rewarded with some lovely soft drinks from the fridge. Hopefully our efforts help the cafe to attract more customers and in turn help supply local charities with more funding.