A group of us met in the rabbit field to cut back brambles and continue the clearance begun by the council mowers.

The area had previously been checked for nests and we were careful to avoid the denser areas to avoid disturbing any birdlife. The hope is that by clearing the space we will open up the area for any slow worms in the hibernaculum.

We had some wide ranging conversation going on as we worked - North Indian vs Sri Lankan paratha, Romanian vs English comedy - and cross stitch techniques

A cold start to a beautifully sunny and soon warm Bank Holiday - who’s’ve thought?

A small but select team of GoodGymmers helped local Jo to de-bramble more patches of the cemetery, leaving the plants we want and pulling out the bramble, buttercup and bindweed that has no place here, thank you very much!

We hadn't expected to have to run the gauntlet to get to the city centre but a HUGE St Patrick's Day crowd had decided to party on King Street and Welsh Back (re-named Irish Back for the evening?) - who could blame them at the end of a rare blue sky and sun-filled day?

We fared (see what I did there?) better than the taxis trying to drive the roads and muscled our way through to cross the city centre to Brunswick Cemetery where more golden gravel was waiting to be exposed to the moon/sunlight once again.

Armed with forks and rubble bags, we were soon working on one of the normal paths before diverting onto the thick moss carpet in front of the old mortuary building - rich pickings for the supple of rubble bags and soon green carpet was becoming green waste ready for the Council to pick up.

It was great having Jo along for her second Tuesday but already third good deed as she joined the Northern Slopes task at the weekend.

The runners (Richard B, Richard G and Caroline were outnumbered by the walkers this week. Jason recovering from his first half-marathon at the weekend, Helen back from her travels , Ed showing off yet another volunteer kit top, Melanie pretending once again she knew what was going on and Jo - its lovely to have a balance of walker and runners, even better when the walkers just tip the balance!

After filling all the available bags, it was back to the mayhem of the St Patrick's Day crowds and on to Workout for pots of tea and a pint of Guinness, which is apparently the perfect pairing for chocolate cake.

We're heading the other way next week but hopefully the crowds will be long gone by then!

P.S. Ive written this report without reading glasses so please make corrections if you have edit access!

A mixture of jobs today. The first, helping to lay a gravel path by making a bit of a gulley then filling with the gravel. Will hopefully be less muddy now for people wanting to use it. The second was continuing cutting back vegetation from the railings up the steps and litter picking. At the end the edges were looking pretty impressive.

Great to be out in the sunshine again :)

Until next time…