I was the only Goodgymer on this mission and I ran a mile from home down to Shap drive Community Centre. There I met Ed Kimberley and team Jill & Joe. We put on our hi viz and gloves, grabbed out trash bags and litter pickers and took to the streets, parks, fields and bushes of Warndon. We found an array of rubbish from drink cans, ice cream wrappers, smashed glass and bottles to carrier bags full of dog poo! 💩 It was dirty smelly business indeed!! But, with a smile and a natter we had soon filled four bag loads and left the area much cleaner and felt a sense of accomplishment! After disposing of the rubbish we had a quick photo before I ran a mile home.

Last week we were worried about the heat and this week we were worried about thunder storms! Luckily the clouds lifted and we were gifted with blue skies as we ran from Perdiswell up to St Wulstans church via a few paths and alleyways that were new to the group. We were greeted by Carry who quickly issued us with forks, shovels and scrapers but not before teasing us by showing us the squash and biscuits that we would be rewarded with when we finished. Alison took on the sanding job to prepare a garden bench for painting. Kirsty and Sam turned the nicely mulched compost while being careful not to disturb the unknown residents in one of the heaps 🐀. Marcus grabbed a fork and shifted a pile of leaves into the newly emptied compost bins. It was quite the production line and we all worked hard for those biscuits! 🍪 As we worked, Cary was already extending her list of jobs that we can help with so we'll be back in two weeks to help some more. The run back was another mini adventure down a narrow tunnel below the railway before emerging onto the canal and past a family of swans and cygnets. A nice warm up for Sam who is racing at Kinver tomorrow. Good Luck Sam! 🏅 More great work by the GoodGym crew!

On the hottest day ever recorded in May the thought of a task by the river sounded appealing. Perhaps we could carry out a swimming litter pick? Unfortunately the task was very much land based but slightly unusual. Marilyn from the Swan Food Project had been in touch to ask if we could help collect silt from some steps down by the river off Hylton Road so that they could then take it down to the Swan Sanctuary to help rebuild the river bank. A classic case of removing something that wasn't wanted in one place and making use of it where it was very much needed. Four intrepid GoodGymers turned up for the task and. after a short run from the Hive met Marilyn and began digging. In just 20 minutes we'd filled 14 sacks with over a quarter of a ton of silt! We loaded up Marilyn's car to the limit of it's suspension and then had a nice walk down to the Swan Sanctuary. Nice apart from the last few sacks and all the tools weighing us down! All good strength training though folks!
Once we'd unloaded at the other end Marilyn gave us an overview of the Swan Food Project while we watched the beautiful swans with the Cathedral bathed in evening sunlight behind. She told us that we'd saved at least 2 hours of work for the usual volunteer team who could now concentrate on using the material to repair the bank, A swan-tastic evening's work!