A group of us gathered on a still warm October eve to help Ken with some bulb planting. We worked in a small area of the cemetery park and planted over 250 crocuses. These will flower in the new year and enhance the wild beautiful look of the park.

A light mist descended on us as we took up our trowels and starting digging deep (as deep as the trowel to protect those bulbs from hungry squirrels)! It was dark as we started, but we were equipped with our headtorches and spotlights, diligently gardening among the grass and graves as the bats flew overhead. Some worked so ferociously that even the tools were no match for their pure strength!

A big welcome to Jo and Beate joining us for your first task! It was great to have you there and an enjoyable Monday evening. Hope to see you again soon!

St Peter’s was looking really nice this evening, especially with the lights we put up during our last session now all lit up!

We split into two groups, with one group outside collecting up the leaves and clearing them away. Once we had gathered them all up, they were put into the compost, giving them a chance to eventually go back into the ground and give something back to the garden.

The other group definitely had a more hands-on job, getting stuck into taking things down, unscrewing bits, carrying boxes and helping to clear and reorganise the space inside the church. There was plenty to get involved with, and everyone was happy to get stuck in.

Lucinda was also busy giving one of the benches a fresh coat of paint, while a few cats made an appearance outside too!

With so many people coming along, it made for a really enjoyable evening with plenty of teamwork, good vibes and lots getting done.

We started today’s session with a lap around the garden, although I think the real leader of the run was the very energetic dog who came along with us! There was definitely no shortage of energy!

After our lap, we got stuck into some litter picking. There was only one glove between the four of us, so we had to take turns, but we still managed to fill a whole bag with rubbish! Not bad for a quick and easy task.

It was also Ros's first GoodGym session, so it was lovely to have her join us! Hopefully this is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to see how far she goes with GoodGym

A simple Sunday session, but a good one — especially with one very enthusiastic four-legged team member! 🐶

REPORT BY NAZIFA

St Matthew’s Gardens had certainly accumulated its fair share of leaves, so it was time for the GoodGym crew to get involved! 🍂

The task was mainly focused on clearing leaves from around the garden and churchyard, with a little bit of litter picking thrown in too. There were* A LOT* of leaves to tackle, but everyone got stuck in. We picked, swept, gathered and bagged them up, with plenty of bags being filled along the way

I made sure everyone had bags to collect the leaves in, and it was great seeing everyone working together to clear the paths and tidy up the area. There was definitely no shortage of leaves, but we managed to make a good dent in them!

It was also my first time leading a GoodGym session, so I was really happy with how everything went. As Emma would say, I can’t “be-leaf”it was my first one!

A big thank you to everyone who came along and helped out. It was a really good experience for my first time leading, and I think we all did a great job