Wow, what a turn out! It was great to see so many GoodGymers out tonight - thank you everyone for coming.

We welcomed Dani from GoodGym Lewisham for a spot of GG Tourism whilst he is house-sitting locally, and met Lucifer for his first ever session - head to their profiles to give them a cheer!

Tom had plenty of tasks for us tonight, the main job being spreading woodchip over the children's play area and around the pond. With lots of lifting and shifting, and plenty of raking, many hands made light work of the task.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team got to work weeding and pruning on the side path of the orchard. We temporarily lost David to a large bush where he was extracting a bramble. Sinéad's trimming of the rosemary bush left a pleasant aroma for the rest of the evening. The discovery of Fred the Frog led to a lot of distraction, and even a photoshoot, courtesy of Jane.

We enjoyed and evening of education, with history lessons with Jim, spanish with Dani and nature studies with Sinead. Other conversation topics includes Sandi Toksvig, Mastermind and David the Gnome.

We ended the session with picking apples and grapes, ready for our lunchboxes for the rest of the week.

It was a very balmy evening for a spot of burdoch banishing, but many hands made light work!

Abby was incredibly proficient in digging in the very dry soil to get up the burdoch roots. Katie found what could have been a carrot plant, or perhaps a deadly hemlock amongst the weeds. Despite the task being at the pick-your-own orchard, somewhat wisely it was decided to leave that one behind.

We got some extra exercise in by jumping the stepping stones that were uncovered by our de-weeding efforts. Conversations went from the bizarre to the ridiculous, with much content probably unsuitable for publication. Although, I feel it is safe to confirm that the animated fox in Disney's Robin Hood was a handsome fellow.

This evening was sadly Andy's last GoodGym Portsmouth task before he heads off to Bath, but he has reassured us he will be back for plenty of visits! We were able to enjoy a nice beverage in a pub garden to round of the evening... although I'm not sure we'll be allowed to order Aperol Spritz again!

6 incredible GoodGymers headed to the Stacey Centre for a fantastic gardening mission. Our small but mighty squad was buzzing to welcome a brand new member to the crew, ultramarathoner Donna! We were thrilled to have her with us, and even more thrilled she didn't try to make us run 50 miles!

The main mission of the night was to remove an overgrown patch of burdock, amongst other weeding duties. I’m not saying the roots were deep, but I’m pretty sure the team opened up a portal to the Upside Down! After much tug of war (and a cunning use of the secateurs!) we managed to rip the never-ending vines from the soil, potentially saving Portsmouth from a supernatural invasion!

Sweaty but victorious, we took a well-earned breather to marvel at the Stacey Centre’s impressive fruit collection, spotting plums, cherries, apples, peaches, blackcurrants, and grapes, like true gardening connoisseurs!

Top tier weeding team!