Mid afternoon I receieved a message from Carry from St Wulstan's Church to ask if we were still coming given how hot it was forecast to be. I said of course but suggested we might be moving a bit more slowly than usual!

In the end we all met at the church with a gentle cycle ride for some instead of a run and as usual Carry met us with a smile and stack of cups ready to keep us hydrated. Alison and Kirsty took up the brushes and the grey paint to give a bench a new lease of life while Marcus was given the task of painting a well used picnic table. They should dry in no time! Half an hour of our time saved Carry 2 hours of her time and we all enjoyed an evening in the sunshine.

Great work GoodGymers!

How many times have we run along the river path without paying any attention to the amazing wildlife oasis that is quietly being nurtured in Chapter Meadows alongside us? It's a project that's being coordinated by Tom and we enjoyed hearing about the latest developments in the nature reserve as we all ran down from The Hive. The newest residents are Shetland Cattle that will be used for controlled grazing as long as they can be convinced to stay in the right place!

Our job for this evening was to give some tiny saplings a helping hand. Hundreds of trees were planted last winter and they now needed space to grow. We all sat pulling up undergrowth around each one then gently laying it back around the base, which Tom explaind helps in 3 (tree?) ways: It reduces the competition for nutrients and light The dead grass turns to mulch to help feed the sapling The mulch helps to hold moisture near to the sapling. A simple but very effective way to make sure this patch of rough grass will one day be a beautiful copse.

I'm not sure how many trees we worked on for but there are hundreds left to be sorted out so we will definately be needed again. I don't think any of us will mind given how pleasant an evening it was.

Last week we were worried about the heat and this week we were worried about thunder storms! Luckily the clouds lifted and we were gifted with blue skies as we ran from Perdiswell up to St Wulstans church via a few paths and alleyways that were new to the group. We were greeted by Carry who quickly issued us with forks, shovels and scrapers but not before teasing us by showing us the squash and biscuits that we would be rewarded with when we finished. Alison took on the sanding job to prepare a garden bench for painting. Kirsty and Sam turned the nicely mulched compost while being careful not to disturb the unknown residents in one of the heaps 🐀. Marcus grabbed a fork and shifted a pile of leaves into the newly emptied compost bins. It was quite the production line and we all worked hard for those biscuits! 🍪 As we worked, Cary was already extending her list of jobs that we can help with so we'll be back in two weeks to help some more. The run back was another mini adventure down a narrow tunnel below the railway before emerging onto the canal and past a family of swans and cygnets. A nice warm up for Sam who is racing at Kinver tomorrow. Good Luck Sam! 🏅 More great work by the GoodGym crew!

On the hottest day ever recorded in May the thought of a task by the river sounded appealing. Perhaps we could carry out a swimming litter pick? Unfortunately the task was very much land based but slightly unusual. Marilyn from the Swan Food Project had been in touch to ask if we could help collect silt from some steps down by the river off Hylton Road so that they could then take it down to the Swan Sanctuary to help rebuild the river bank. A classic case of removing something that wasn't wanted in one place and making use of it where it was very much needed. Four intrepid GoodGymers turned up for the task and. after a short run from the Hive met Marilyn and began digging. In just 20 minutes we'd filled 14 sacks with over a quarter of a ton of silt! We loaded up Marilyn's car to the limit of it's suspension and then had a nice walk down to the Swan Sanctuary. Nice apart from the last few sacks and all the tools weighing us down! All good strength training though folks!
Once we'd unloaded at the other end Marilyn gave us an overview of the Swan Food Project while we watched the beautiful swans with the Cathedral bathed in evening sunlight behind. She told us that we'd saved at least 2 hours of work for the usual volunteer team who could now concentrate on using the material to repair the bank, A swan-tastic evening's work!