It's been a while since we last helped NSI (Northern Slopes Initiative) up at Novers Hill - though we've spent a lot of time just next door at the Berry maze. Really good then to run up the Malago Greenway and find scythes, slashers and loppers waiting for us once more

Over the years we've cut back a lot of the brambles on the top of the grass slope so today was all about clearing a path to make the liberated space accessible and making sure it was kept under control. We had five scythers laying waste to brambles, and - perhaps fittingly in the week before Halloween - a lone slasher, with Dave in full flow taking out anything that didn't move.

Others found themselves trimming the areas either side of the path and David managed a bit of pruning with one of the saws.

With all these blades slashing about it was good to have Julia, our host around to give a bit of scythe training and watch out for everyone's safety!

The steps going up the hill have always been a bit of a hot spot for litter and our two teams of litter pickers were able to collect 5 or 6 bags of rubbish, making one or two unpleasant discoveries in the process. Thanks to Lauren, Rich, Matt, Julie, Darren and Shreena for taking on this rather less glamorous but much appreciated task!

With Julia having provided tea and biscuits and some puzzle solving required to fit all the tools back in Julia's can we were a little late leaving but made up a little time with an impressive and pacey run back!

Congratulations to Darren for completing his 200th parkrun today and also to Sion for completing 100 good deeds in Sheffield a few days ago. Always lovely to see you back Sion and thanks for being such a good sport with the obligatory Centurion outfit photo.

And for the record, it turns out the old style pink wafers aren't actually as nice as the new ones. Though being a year out of date might have just had some influence on that (sorry everyone!!)

What a perfect way to come back from the sunshine to the dreary, dark nights of a British October than to be welcomed by 43 shining GoodGym faces! Included in those faces were Neil, Fred and Catherine, who joined us for the first time tonight - thank you for joining us, it was great to meet you all. Also a big welcome to Chris, who has just moved to Bristol from Wandsworth GoodGym - welcome on board with the South West!

After some fantastic examples of how not to skip, the group split up to conquer two tasks tonight. The first group (including the impressive 2-day-post-marathon not-even-hobblers) set off towards Hamilton House, a well known community centre in Bristol but our first time helping them.

Hamil-tonne of cleaning products

Maria led half of the group to Hamilton House to do some cleaning of their event space and kitchen. The group did a brilliant job of finding any sneaky dirt lurking in the space - if it was looking good when they started, it is looking amazing now!

Eas-tonne of leaflets

The rest of the group ran to Easton to do leafleting for Felix Road Adventure Playground's upcoming programme of October break events. While Chris and co. took a suspiciously long time to do their section (which passed by several pubs...), the rest of the group conquered tonight's squat challenge and lunge challenge with ease (or, at least, few complaints). The group distributed 300 leaflets in no time and soon our 4 mile leafleting loop was complete.

A celebration involving cake? Who, us?

Once the groups reconvened with perfect timing, we stretched off and settled in to a post-run delayed celebration. Lexi got her 50th Good Deed a couple of weeks' ago and had baked delicious vegan cakes for us all to celebrate with her. Last week, Kait achieved her 100th Good Deed, but got the joy of saving the Centurion outfit for this week. Please see said joy in Kait's face in the photos above... Well done both of you!

Do you like the 5 times table? Well, here is a run report for you...

Lex give it up for 50!

50 runners came out tonight - one to celebrate each of Lexi's Good Deeds. Massive congratulations on hitting 50, Lexi! This included 5 new runners joining our crazy crew. Welcome to Francesca, Anna, Lauren, Cerys and Johan - it was great to have you.

For our celebration, the group split into three tasks.

Most of us started off by heading towards Emmaus, stopping for a quick game of Chicken Otter Badger led by Gary and leaving the group looking knackered before we were halfway to the task. Nevertheless, they powered through.

Those who thought they could face more Grit from Gary, went to do hill-running and leafleting for Penny Brohn's upcoming Stomp Sponsored Walk. Under Gary's watchful eye, they zoomed up the hills, around the houses and were back at base in no time. Impressive!

Meanwhile, the second group arrived at Emmaus, where Xanne talked to us about the brilliant work they do then set us to work sorting out the clothes stockroom and the bric-a-brac. The team meticulously sorted the items into piles to sell in store, online and recycle. Darren and Matt got very into pricing silverware, so now we all know where to go if we need some Bargain Hunt advice. Many crazy hats and lampshades later, we had sorted many rails, filled many bags and cleaned up a bunch of bric-a-brac ready to sell. The silverware remains to be confirmed whether it was valuable or not...

Dave led the third group to Bedminster, to plant some lavender bulbs with Urban Buzz. It is the perfect time for planting these, and it will really brighten up the area where we were planting in a few months' time. While Dave, being the good Run Leader he is, was keeping to time and getting the group to finish up ready for a leisurely, direct jog back, the group had other ideas. With Dave having reached his 500th Good Deed at the weekend, Operation Distract Dave was fully underway. Dave was thrown off being a Run Leader, and the group were soon directed on an extensive diversion scattered with as many squats, lunges and tricep dips as required to get 50 runners in the same place and ready for the ceremony of dreams.

King Dave of 500, Prince of Puns and Godfather of Good Deeds

With everything in place (almost), Dave and his group returned to a red carpet of GoodGym tshirts, arched by the friendly Bristol GG faces, leading to a red throne. To the crowds cheering, Dave was donned with a red cloak. Paul stepped to the helm and did a skillful job of anointing Dave as the official King Dave of 500, Prince of Puns and Godfather of Good Deeds (King of GoodGym for short).

Dave made a beautiful speech, but the ceremony was not over yet. Alex and Clo produced the most wonderful Ukulele Duet I have ever seen, to Dave-specials of '500 Good Deeds' (to the tune of 500 Miles) and 'I Want to Be Like Dave' (to the tune of the Jungle Book). Musical and lyrical genius, accompanied by the less musically-talented but incredibly enthusiastic rousing voices of GoodGym Bristol. All of this was followed by Claire's spectacular 500 cake and lots of pints. Well done again Dave and thanks for everything.

And with that, we will give one more Mexican Dave and say thank you very much for a lovely game of fives.

A big batch of Bristol runners broke out of their beginning-of-the-week babble to bumble along, break some brambles, bamboozle blackberries and bag up some bad litter. Some say barmy, we say brilliant.

The Jumping Jack off

The group started off with a merry jumping jacks warm up. Or so I thought... according to Darren's photo evidence from the night, Alice and I were merrily doing our jumping jacks while everyone else was doing their utmost to pretend they weren't with us...

Task 1: The Bramble-Removal

Alice ably led a group of runners out to the Harbourside to help the Friends of the Harbourside Reed Bed. After a summer of growing (and our help a few months ago) it was time for another trim to keep the area looking spic-and-span. Not ones to like an easy challenge, to do a good job, the group had to tackle brambles and a nest of wasps in the area. But they got it done in no-time and left the area looking ready for the Autumn months.

Task 2: The Litter-Pick

Our second group of wiling runners went to the other side of the harbour to Gaol Ferry Bridge to help the Friends of the Avon New Cut to do a big litter-pick in the area. Unfortunately, this part of the river has become rife with anti-social behaviour, leaving a lot of litter and more in the area. The group did an absolutely fantastic job of filling 16 bin bags with waste. Massive well done to everyone for getting your litter-pickers out and getting stuck in!

Task 3: The Fun One

Meanwhile, those who wanted to stretch their legs a bit further (or knew what was in store) were led on the 3km run to Bramble Hill Farm by Paul, where they met Chris for animal feeding and blackberry picking. Roll-on animal stroking, selfies and blackberry eating, just in time to roll back down the hill for finishing time.

To top all of this hard work off, the group then powered their way through a circuit session around Queen's Square (until a pug came along to distract everyone from their burpees).