What a Great morning spent with some new & some returning members of the team!

7 GoodGymers headed up to the OWLS allotments to help tidy up this morning. It was the first time we've been back since autumn so there was lots to do.

We cleared several beds of weeds, tidied up the polytunnel, cleared waste materials into piles and had a general tidy up of the area. We made a real difference and it looked much better when we left.

There was a great atmosphere with everyone getting to know each other. Welcome to newcomers Sarah, Anna & Jess. We hope to see you again soon!

These were Adele's words as she let the all female running group into the farm to join Freddie, Adam, and Jubz. The task was to weed the raspberry patch....however the lads were struggling with plant recognition. Luckily Katie had an app on her phone that distinguished bindweed from borage. So the mission was accomplished quite quickly and after an easy 3km run down to Kirkstall Valley Farm we were now facing returning up the hill. We dropped Adam off at his door and took the scenic route via parks and ginnels. On the ginnel beside the rugby ground we met an artist called Griff who was painting murals on behalf of a local dementia support group. We barely noticed the hills!

Six Good Gym Leeds members completed our first daylight session this year at Bedford Fields. We were able to see the results of all our previous twilight and torchlit tasks and the true scale of the lovely community gardens. This week we were quickly put to work digging a hole for a future three meter long pond (to soak willow shoots before they can be woven into a structure). The barrowloads of topsoil were then used to fill raised beds ready for planting. We found some interesting objects buried in the ground and spent time speculating on the possible backstories of the articles of clothing....hoping not to feature in future true crime dramas...

9 GoodGym Leeds members completed several tasks at Left Bank tonight. The biggest challenge was to transform 3 beer barrels and some planks of wood into an attractive and functional bench. Much scratching of heads and wielding of power tools and saws eventually resulted in a sort of bench...well we liked it! Other tasks tonight included general weeding, litter picking and filling raised beds with compost. Left Bank staff very generously rewarded us with a round of drinks and we enjoyed seeing the various clubs doing their things inside. A warm welcome to Alina doing her first GoodGym Leeds task.

Tonight, we had a nice big group of 11 GoodGymers who met at Heart and ran up to Bedford Fields for my 50th mission with GoodGym.

We dug a trench under their new fence so that they could tighten it up and then put the mulch onto tree roots at the other side. The idea is to create a border to offer the trees more support. We finished off with a bit of tidying up. It's amazing how much we can get done in an hour between us. Well done team!

Welcome to newcomers Joe, Jubz & Sasha, it was great to meet you all & I hope to see you again soon.