Say one thing for Bristolian weather, say its fickle.

We ran through all four seasons to meet the lovely folks at Narroways, a rather lovely nature reserve with a cracking view over the city. That view came at the price of being exposed to mother nature's wild ways and we seemed to be battered with wind and soothed with sun in equal measure.

Tej and Ruth had us sawing, hacking and lopping away at a hedge that was obscuring the aforementioned view. We even got to spontaneously practice a little dead hedging! After we expertly restored the view we were off for a well deserved spot of lunch.

Congratulations to Darren for hitting 50 good deeds today!

I think I may have mentioned before (once or twice) that I love my running club and today was a good example of why. What other club would allow you to put out a speculative request for a few litter pickers and find that a couple of days later that you have 13 people signed up and ready to sacrifice a few hours of their Bank Holiday to help out even if they live nowhere near the site being cleared?

Things were made even better as we were rewarded with a bit of karmic weather that ensured that we completed the longish run up the cycle path and the entire pick without a drop of rain. Ok, so there was a bit of dampness on the way back, but at least we had the promise of brunch and a warm room to warm up our frozen hands by then!

Todays last minute task came about following a plea for help on our Facebook page by Saffron of Eastville Park friends group. Since we already had tasks scheduled for the next couple of weeks it looked at first like we wouldn't be able to help out but seeing that an event had been set up for Good Friday it was great to be able to respond and get involved in tidying up Royate Hill nature reserve - a lovely green space tucked away alongside Greenbank Cemetery. Saffron had recruited a good few others so we all worked together to tackle both the lower section alongside the cemetery and further up along the viaduct as well. This included the Moon Temple - a place I didn't realise existed until today but provided for some quality photographs by Caroline!

I lost count of how many bags of rubbish we removed but I think it was 15-20 so a very productive morning and a seriously lovely group of people to spend it with.

It was COLD today. Double deeds were on offer to those who came to both volunteer at parkrun and plant bulbs - and they were well earned!

With the last few admin tasks of parkrun still going on in the background, our volunteers and parkrunners gradually joined our new arrivals (welcome Jenny and Melissa)to help Hayley from Urban Buzz plant bulbs along the grass banks that border Eastville park.

The bulbs are intended to attract pollinators into the area when they flower later in the year and there were a lot of them to plant.

The planting area was on a slope leading down to the road so it was quite a challenge to cut slots that could accommodate the bulbs - although it has to be said that Hayley made it look easy! It should also look pretty amazing for everyone driving past when they all flower.

With frozen fingers, even the addition of Hayley's insulated work gloves did little to make the task of plunging the bulbs into the ground any easier but in true Goodgym spirit everyone stuck to the task and we managed in all to cover a 15m stretch of bank by the time we were finished - punctuated with a bit of running and a shin tap competition to try and regain some warmth.

Welcome back to Laura today and fantastic also to have Jay return after putting in a speedy parkrun earlier! Extra special congratulations to Deb on her 100th parkrun.

But the final words must be reserved for Sarah whocelebrated her good deed century on a coach run earlier in the week and who after a brisk run down through the park, donned the traditional Centurion outfit over a nice warm coffee

Six new faces today perfectly balanced our six Goodgym veterans as we ran to our rearranged task in St Pauls. On the way there we managed plenty of lunges and squats to help build up our core strength.

We were to help Emmaus by dismantling (aka smashing up) an old shed located in the garden of one of their newly acquired properties. Emmaus provide their companions (people who were previously homeless) with shared accommodation and training to help transition them into a more structured life with regular employment and a place to stay.

The properties have been provided by the council for a 'peppercorn rent' for those Emmaus companions who are ready to move on from their initial more structured shared housing arrangement with its regular rotas and routines to a more independent and flexible lifestyle while still being in the company of others who have had similar experiences.

The shed was too battered to be of any use any more so we were supplied with a range of tools (crowbar, pick axe, hammers etc) in order that we could dismantle it and reclaim the garden space. This was certainly a task where a bit of a health and safety briefing was in order but everyone worked together brilliantly today and we made a great start on removing the roof and a front window without any new entries in the accident book! Well done everyone!

There was even a bit of time for some wallpaper stripping in the hall!

Smashing up sheds is fun as you can see below - I know Sarah wanted to stay all day, but we WILL be back!

On the way back we managed a walking lunge through St Agnes park and a Rocky-style ascent of Castle park rounded off with a little running train to cap off a very active Goodgym morning.

Really enjoyed our starter session today and lovely to meet all you new members - it was especially good to see you all so enthusiastic to get stuck into our task - you're clearly all born GG'ers and we'd love to see you again soon!

Thanks to Clo for back-marking and Caroline for recruitment and time-keeping.