Today’s GoodGym adventure took us to the beautiful church in central Richmond, where we rolled up our sleeves for a hands-on task: building a rustic wooden rail for the new “scented trail” project. Our goal was to create a sturdy, natural boundary using chunky timber and a lot of teamwork.

As someone with dyslexia, I had a moment where I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to follow the horse or the hose—Ken’s directions definitely kept me on my toes, but it gave me a laugh either way! (Spoiler: no horses, and only a bit of hose.)

We got stuck in with lifting, sawing, and setting the wooden rails in place, working alongside Ken, who shared plenty of tips and good humour throughout the morning. It was a physical but rewarding session, and seeing the rails take shape bit by bit was a real treat.

No worries—I really enjoyed it, and I’d love to come back when it’s on again!

Five GoodGymers came out to St Mary Magdelene Parish Church in the centre of Richmond to build some hurdles. We welcomed 2 new GoodGymers on their first mission with the same name: Jamie. Anita was at the War Memorial getting the beds ready for planting and Ken was on the other side struggling with some new sticks to make them into hurdles around the wildflower area. Jamie (both) got stuck into cutting sticks and sharpening the ends while Emily set about making holes on the posts for the sticks to go through. It was a hot day and while we made good progress finishing some bits off there will be more stick work on Monday as the task was not completed but a good effort was made.

Two GoodGymers turned up to make some rustic knee rails for the wildflower patches at St Mary Magdelene Church. They quickly got to work and were knocking posts and cutting rails in unison until they ran out of posts! Ken got on his bike to get more and finish the task.

We are back there this Friday to finish the task if you can join!

Ultimately, it was two Teams on either end of the Church grounds making a small difference. One mission was to clean up the war memorial and the other, involved two sections where we had to lift up some of the turf a few inches off the ground.

Thanks to the tools we had available. This included a post basher, a tape measure, a string for the border, some wooden posts and a small shovel. It was pretty evident that the surrounding lawn around the Church was steeped in history so we took note of that from the beginning. The two areas in question was pretty close to a previous trench that Goodgym previously got involved back in 2024, where we also spotted the sow that reaped its rewards with full flower.

We took a section of the lawn at the back of the church (or depending which way you look at it) and started digging. We found no artifacts, perhaps some dust from previous stone diminished.

Shortly afterwards, we completed our mission. The vicar invited us in for some refreshments afterwards. It's pretty amazing when a team comes together!

In preparation for Remembrance Day, we met at the listed war memorial monument at St Mary Magdelene Church in Richmond town centre. Jobs included weeding around the flower bed, clearing any rubbish that had blown in, scraping up grass and moss between the paving slabs and making sure the area is appropriately ready to pay respects to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

An unexpected Canada Day celebration this evening when task owner Ken sprung out with a flag, maple syrup and waffles!

But that's getting ahead of ourselves as the evening started with a run session at Richmond Green, welcoming first timer Steve for a warm-up and then five laps around the green. Those who wanted to added in two short sprint sections and those who didn't went for a steady pace that kept everyone pretty much together.

A very short walk from the green, we met Ken at the St Mary Magdalene war memorial for some weeding around the monument and a few dodgy looks from the pigeons who have built nests at the top!

On completion, Ken went full Canada and served up the snacks, followed by a few seconds stroll to the nearest pub! A relaxed evening altogether, just the way the Canadians are! 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦