For this week's task, five intrepid GoodGymers braved the Cambridge thunderstorm to visit the Fox Den Community Allotment. ⛈️

Beth, Sandra, Kate, Catherine and I arrived to a mere smattering of rain, before it quickly developed into something heavier. Taking shelter, we met with Chief Allotmenteer Lorna to learn about today's task and assign roles. As well as preparing the paths, today we were to start on the hugel mound! A traditional permaculture method, a hugel mound is a raised bed filled with rotton wood and organic matter, creating a highly fertile soil from materials thay would otherwise go to waste.

First, we needed to dig a crater in which the decaying logs could go. Kate and Sandra wasted no time grabbing shovels and getting stuck in with the chiseling/flaking of the upper layers, while I filled watering cans to drench the layers beneath to help make it diggable. During our dig, we also learned from Lorna how Fox Den got its name, and we hope that one day the foxes may return! 🦊

Meanwhile, Catherine and Beth were on woodchip duty for the path maintenance task. With a wheelbarrow each, the pair completed multiple trips across the allotment, masterfully performing the labour-intensive job. Lulled into a false sense of security, jackets were removed during a dry spell - only for the rain to return when the pair were at the farthest point. Whoops! 🌧

Some rather spectacular thunder and lightning signalled that it was time to head to our August social! Passing sheltering cows, the group cycled to Calverley's Brewery (sadly, the weather once again scuppered our plans to picnic). We were really pleased Becky was able to join, meeting us at the bar just in time for the first beer sampling. Selling the group on the detroit-style pizzas, dinner was sorted. Thank you so much to everyone who came along, it really was a hugel-y enjoyable evening! 🍻🍕

We returned this evening for our monthly visit to Jimmy's Cambridge to help with their dinner service. 🍽

Christopher and I met at Parkside Pools for our 4km-and-a-bit run, lapping Parker's Piece four times. Making her way from London, Catherine was waiting for us after the first lap and joined us for the remainder. 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

This evening, Alex joined us for her first visit to Jimmy's. We soon got stuck in dishing up this evening's meal of spaghetti and stroganoff, with a rather splendid lemon meringue pie to follow. There was even a steak for Ruby, tonight's resident dog! 🐶

We gratefully received a visit from Beth partway through service (also on her first visit here) in time for clean down. As per usual, we made plenty of time for chatting and team building - and shared the joy of the clingfilm machine. 🙌

Thanks to all for another fun and productive evening!

GoodGym Cambridge was back at SIN Cru this week, once again combining a group run with a community mission 💪

Scott, Christopher, Kate, Beth, Catherine and I met at Parkside Pools to lock up our bikes and set off on the 3.6 km jog to our destination (at least my watch recorded the whole distance! 😛). Along the way, we chatted about recent holidays, restaurant visits, parkrun tourism/obsession and how much we need some rain in Cambridge. Little did we know...

Sandra and Alan were waiting for us at SIN Cru, with Sandra ready to capture our majestic "Baywatch" moment after being too in awe to do so last time. Following the obligatory dog-petting, we got to work in the garden space. Today, Alan and Chris quickly got a handle on some very active shovel action, clearing rather compacted soil and leveling the ground ready for a patio space which Kate and Beth gathered bricks for. Sandra and Catherine cleared an impressive amount of ivy from a wall, whilst Scott and I enjoyed the more sedate task of dead-heading the plants. Once we'd filled the compost area (and scritched the dogs some more), we gave the refreshed plants a much needed watering with some collected rainwater. Oh, how naive we were...

Then, we were off: it was party time! Sandra and Alan led the way by bike, meeting Ilse at Jesus Green for our July social. Beth and Kate joined on foot, while the rest of us legged it back to collect our bikes and grab more party food. Only mildly questioning the dark clouds, we gathered for a picnic. Amongst the MANY tasty treats were some homemade pastry wheels, courtesy of Ilse - a firm favourite amongst the snacks! We look forward to sampling your future recipe experimentation 🤤

It turns out I really do like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain: not long after we'd sat down and set up the picnic, the sky opened and gave us ALL the rain we'd been missing these past few weeks! We stood our ground until we feared for the structural integrity of the snacks, eventually taking shelter and laughing at how unfortunate our timing was. A key moment of the night was celebrating Beth's 10 deed milestone - congratulations!! Sorry we temporarily blinded you, but hope the Colin made up for it 📸

Once the rain had eased up enough, we escaped to a nearby pub to warm up and dry out for the rest of our social. We didn't let a bit of water spoil our fun, but fingers crossed next month's is a little drier! 🤞

It was another scorcher in Cambridge, so we pivoted our group run to a shady fitness session in the park.

Scott and I kicked off with all the classics - squats, lunges and planks, before Beth joined just in time for abs. Mid-bicycle kick, we noticed Alan about to cycle past, but the lure of the red t-shirts was too much. At this point we'd all shifted to stretching, enjoying some slower movement in the fresh air.

We headed over to Jimmy's to meet Blessings and Marie, who joined us for her first session 👋

Unfortunately, the task couldn't go ahead, but we all agreed to do a good deed locally over the next week. There will be litter picking, Foodbank and charity shop donations.

With the gift of time, we took the opportunity for some more fresh air in the park and walked back to our shady spot, which by this point had a very enjoyable breeze. We spent a balmy hour catching up, finding out everyone's favourite parkrun (not an easy task), uncovering historic connections, and trying to work out the terrier breed that is around 30kg - bigger than a Pitbull and smaller than a fat Dalmatian. Alan, if you find out you must share, so we can all sleep easy.

As the evening cooled, we headed our separate ways, walking, running and cycling across the city.

Not quite the evening we had planned, but in true GoodGym style, we found the silver lining and prioritised movement and connection 🫶