On the first Saturday of Spring, 3 Goodgymmers went back to elementree school to help with some tree planting. After taking the wrong root, I arrived late to find Meyrick, Laura and Andy already hard at work with spades and mattocks, digging a hole for a birch tree to be planted, to mark the Queen's platinum jubilee. Despite our first impressions, Andy confirmed that the sapling was in fact still alive and we learnt that birch trees like to keep hold of their brown leaves until Spring. Once the birch was successfully in place, we moved on in search of the perfect spot for an apple tree, then set to work digging up the soft soil which, as observed by Meyrick, resembled chocolate cake. This time we preserved the turf, which Laura and Andy pieced together so neatly at the end, you wouldn't beleaf any digging had ever taken place. Then, as if by magic, a real chocolate cake appeared, kindly shared with us by some volunteers from Scope. It was a treemendous morning.

We were back again at St Martins Garden school to continue transforming a previously neglected area of land into a garden school. Andy, the organiser, had high expectations for the group - clearing a patch of scrubby land for a new wooden teepee and installing some steps on a slope leading to the garden school area.

We divided into two teams: Andy, Emily and Rachel tackling the steps, whilst Mary, Ruth, Sam and Max fought their way to the scrubland.

The steps team soon got into a rhythm - sawing a large sleeper in two with a slightly inadequate bow saw, digging a channel in the earth with a slightly scary mattock, hammering rebar rods in place with Andy's brand new sledge hammer and finally backfilling with soil to make the step even. Hard work but the end result was very satisfying with a neat set of 4 steps leading down to the garden school area.

Meanwhile the clearing team had been attacking the tall shrubs with loppers, and digging up roots, clearing the plot so that a barrier membrane can be laid down in anticipation of a new wooden teepee for the kids to use. Again, a big difference in a short space of time.

An enthusiastic group gathered on Saturday morning to meet Andy at St Martins Garden school - our mammoth task was to shift huge sacks of earth to the other side of the school to level out the ground around their garden school areas to prevent accidental trips, and tidy up the outdoor classroom spaces by removing weeds and laying more bark chipping. Goodgym had already done a lot of work for this garden last summer, and people were amazed at how quickly everything had grown and recovered from the last Goodgym blitz.

This was definitely a workout Goodgym style, Emily and Meyrick started clearing the weeds, whilst Ruth, Rachel, Sam, Max and Andy started digging the soil out of the giant bags and running relays of wheel-barrows of soil around to the garden school. Our arms are now feeling the effects of all the digging and wheeling.

We needed to make a smooth solid slope of soil to prevent the kids from tripping on the step between the soil and bark, and after some creative thinking we came up with various solutions to stamp down the soil - including wheeling a full barrow over the soil, rolling a nearby handy log over the ground and finally getting Sam and a log into the wheel barrow to really add some weight to proceedings.

Finally it was time bask in the glow of our achievement and tidy up - even having time to pose for a photo on the very cute stools for the out door classrooms. We hope the kids will love it when they see it on Tuesday!

Yesterday was the final part of our 6-week project to redevelop the space outside some classrooms at St Martin's School from weedy patches of grass covered in tree roots into bordered-off areas covered with bark chip. The young people will now be able to learn and play outside in a safer, more accessible and more visually appealing area. The project was headed by volunteers from St Phillip and St James Church in Odd Down and we really enjoyed being part of a wider team with them.

If you have seen earlier run reports then you will see how the main task has been about digging out tree roots and weeds, digging out 6 inches of dirt, laying down a membrane, bordering the areas with timber and laying down two layers of bark chip. There were 4 large areas and 1 smaller area and we finally completed them all yesterday.

We finally managed to get out all of the old tree roots and stumps in the smallest area (the one closest to the camera in the picture) and level it off. Although it was the smallest it was definitely the hardest! The roots were very entwined and there were some surprise paving slabs for us to remove.

Then the task was all about fetching, transporting and raking the bark chip. The bags of bark chip weighted a tonne and we shifted about 8 of them throughout the day. It took some coordinated team work to get them on and off the trailers and some good old fashioned GoodGym grit!

We will hopefully return to the school at some stage in the future to do some more outdoor projects in the area!

• Week 1 - Rooted in the community
• Week 2 - GoodGym dont pick and choose
• Week 3 - All bark and no bite!
• Week 4 - Insane in the membrance, insane in the rain!
• Week 5 - All aboard the root master, next stop St Martin's!

We continued with our mammoth effort of creating a learning and adventure space at St Martin's school in Odd Down. This week we were laying down bark chipping on the areas that we had already added membranes to. There are now 3 sections that are nearly complete - all they need is a sprinkling of 'top-soil' bark chipping to finish them off.

Today we cleared the fourth big area, laid down membrane on it, added stakes and planks to form a border and added the first layer of bark chipping onto it. Clearing the area involved digging up some very stubborn tree stumps and clods of tree roots. The team transporting and laying the bark chip had their hands full as well with lots of trips up and down the slope all morning.

Luckily the rain held off for most of this session unlike a few weeks ago!

Next weekend is the final push to get the last section finished and add the rest of the bark chip. That way everything will be ready for when school starts back in September.

We continued the project at St Martin's Garden school with volunteers from St James and St Phillips Church. The project is to redevelop the outdoor space in a block of classroom buildings and create a place where the children can enjoy learning and playing. We are converting some areas of poor soil and weeds by digging the area out and down, laying down membranes, adding bark chipping and bordering them off with some wooden planks and stakes. It's hard work but it's rewarding!

This week we made some great progress in each of the areas:

• Area 1: we fully completed the first area (by adding an extra layer of bark chipping). It looks great!
• Area 2: after the work digging it out last week, Emily, Ruth and Max cleared away some final few stones, loose root and even some weeds that have grown since last week! Andy and his team then laid down some membrane, ready to have chips added next time.
• Area 3: this was also dug out last week, and the team did the same as area 2. It's been flattened and was partly covered in membrane. Nearly there!
• Area 4: Michael and I used the mattocks and pick axes to dig this out the weeds and soil and then dig down about 6 inches. It was really hard work but an amazing work out! We then nearly finished scooping out the earth and next time we will finish this so the membrane can then be laid.
• Area 5: The smallest but trickiest area because of all the tree roots: the mattock made short work of this and next week we can dig it over again and remove more of the soil.

Everything was going well until the rain came! It absolutely bucketed down, but that didn't stop us! Great determination, grit and team work was on display. Thanks to everyone who came along and made this such a success. Sign up here for the next session on Saturday 15th August.

Some of the pun contenders that didn't quite make it (why can't we get more usually?!):

• A barrow-full of laughs
• Raking it in
• Wet, wet, wet!
• Back B(raking) work