There were bells on a hill
But I never heard them ringing
No, I never heard them at all
'Til there was you

There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
'Til there was you

So sang a young Paul McCartney in 1963. The link between GoodGym Bath in 2026 and the Beatles is that we were ourselves using a 'Till' today, to till the ground. It's a tenuous link driven by the need to find a decent pun but I'll take it.

I have attempted to add to the lyrics with my own, describing the task that drew Ruth, Aaron, Bennath and Meyrick to Bath City Farm on such a surprisingly sunny and warm April morning.

There were four on a hill
But I never saw them planting
No I never saw them at all
'til there was you

Fifteen Hazel trees
But I never saw their saplings
No I never saw them at all
'til there was you

Then there was digging
And wonderful poses
They tell me on steep sunbaked hillsides
Of brawn and hew

There were spades all around
But I never heard them digging
No, I never heard it at all
'Til there was you

(And just for the purposes of copyright, lyrics by Lennon-McCartney-Williams)

There was a time when I would have stayed in bed late in a Sunday morning, or an even more questionable time when I would drag myself to the downstairs sofa to watch the Hollyoaks Omnibus on T4 (ah those were the days).

No longer!! Now I'm a member of GoodGym, Sundays are all about getting up early and getting some rewarding outdoor voluntary work done. Trust me, if you are thinking about joining us, it's way better than the couch/Hollyoaks omnibus solution.

This morning, we had the wonderful Cosmo, Aaron, Bennath and Meyrick attend, with our ever galvanised contact at the Friends of Sydney Gardens, Gill, deciding that weeding around the tennis courts was the task to today.

We've done this numerous times before, but as we all know weeds grow back almost as quickly as you can remove them. IT was lovely to sit, weed and chat amongst ourselves in the hour we had there, but all agree that the time flew by. We finished it off with a visit to the Holburne Museum cafe before parting ways. This is a great way to spend a Sunday morning so come on and get on board!

What an amazing morning, for the first time this year the skies were blue, the sun was out and the temperature was approaching something you might call 'Spring-like'.

Caution as always though, at this time of year, as it can be deceptive and no one want to be caught in the cold thinking it was going to be warmer. So hoodies and leggings were still de riguer, certainly for me as I cycled down the hill (as fellow meteorologists will concur, it's cooler at the top of the hill than at the bottom).

It was lovely though, that feeling of warm air rushing past my face as a sped down Ralph Allen Drive gradually sinking into the warmer valley air in the centre of Bath.

Sydney Gardens is a beautiful place, much nicer as spring takes hold and the weather warms, we've had some dreary winter days here for sure over the last six months. Today, however, everyone had the same bug, Spring might just be here and we were all going to enjoy it! Joining me (Meyrick) were stalwarts Aaron, Cosmo, Bennath and Nev and there might have even been a spring in our steps as we awaited our instructions from Gill, our guide from the Friends of Sydney Gardens.

This week we learned that one of the pedestrian bridges over the railway was in need of repair, and major repair at that. The authorities would be closing the rail line for a few days in order to do this work (heads up this is the main route from Cardiff to London so not an insignificant impact). Turns out the workmen will need the use of the area where all the sand and woodchip is stored, and so have been clearing it out. In fact they had been on site with diggers to move all the sand up to the play area (doing in one day what normally takes GoodGym several months), but there was much woodchip remaining and we were to help fill barrows of the stuff for relocating to nearby flower beds.

We didn't through all of it, but made a great start and thoroughly enjoyed the coming of Spring.

I 'potted' up at Bath Organic Garden on our monthly visit to find Aaron and Cosmo already hard at work on one of the beds. Apparently volunteers are welcomed from 10am (if we can get there).

Our job this time was to rake in some green compost (fast growing nitrogen-rich plants) into some of the plots. But first we had to clear them of stones and weeds. We also found a lot of potatoes - which could make a tasty meal for growers if baked in their home-made oven.

It was a beautiful day and we made good progress. Soon it was time for tea. Organiser Dan supplied some extraordinary biscuits from his skiing holiday. Licorice and strawberry jammy dodgers anyone?

Special mention to Cosmo on his 99th mission - I wonder if he'll dye his hair a new colour to celebrate his 100th.