This morning Katie, Vicky and myself ambled to Boundary Brook Nature Reserve (which is nearly 2000 miles from Istanbul) to ramble and scramble around raking up brambles. Unfortunately nobody there was called Campbell, but that's enough of a preamble.

We were let in by our friend Helen Edwards, the Reserve's Chair, who used a strimmer with a deadly bladed attachment to cut down the brambles at the northern end of the site. We didn't dare go near it, as risking our fingers would have been too much of a gamble. Once the brambles were down the area was in shambles, so we raked it all up and threw it on the compost heap, which soon grew so big that Helen had to climb on top of it and give it a good trample. The work was easier than it looked; in fact the time flowed by like the River Hamble.

Now what else rhymes with bramble? Jamble? Plamble? No... well I guess that's the end of the report then.

PS: See pics for before & after photos and Helen's 100% plant-based hat.

Our first dark task of the season saw 9 hardy goodgymers gather at Oxford Brookes Campus in Headington. Armed with litter pickers and bags we headed down Gipsy Lane - always a bit of a grot spot. At first glance the area didn't seem that bad but we still managed to amass 6 large bags of litter.

After a successful stroll, chat and litterpick we headed to the pub.

The majority of our group today was women. We stayed in groups and didn't experience any abuse. This, sadly, is not always the experience for women exercising after dark, especially once the clock change and the evenings get darker earlier. Lets lift the curfew.

Tonight saw our first monthly visit of the winter to Oxford Mutual Aid, which is now in its seventh year of countering food poverty in Oxford. Over the winter, Goodgym helps by doing the deep cleaning for which the regular volunteers usually don't have enough time.

With the kitchen out of action after a rat infestation (now dealt with!), we concentrated on the main hall. After a quick introduction from OMA volunteer Martin, we got started shifting shelving, moving boxes, cleaning fridges, and sweeping and mopping the floor. We (or rather Fred) even remembered to take the vital "before" photos we need to make sure everything is put back in exactly the right place afterwards!

A sizeable chunk of the hall is now spick and span, and we'll be back in November to tackle the rest.