Today Goodgym was at Cutteslowe Greenhouse to join a group of 15 other volunteers and get the long-closed Cutteslowe Greenhouse ready to open.

Our task was to move compost in wheelbarrows, and fill up the raised beds inside the greenhouse! This meant shoveling the pile of old green waste compost into barrows to cart into the greenhouse and pour into the beds, and then pouring on bags of fresh compost to make a top layer. We also needed to transfer dry soil from one bed to another to suit the different plants the team was planning to grow.

The old compost was full of roots and tough to dig. The bags were heavy (and covered in weird green slime). It got so hot in the greenhouse we had to take frequent breaks for water, and some of the old soil was so dry it filled the greenhouse with dust and we had to abandon it until the dust settled.

But all of this is nothing to the unstoppable Goodgym. The Greenhouse project are eager for us to come back, and were so pleased with our work today they let us plant some inaugural lettuce! We are looking forward to visiting again and seeing how big they've grown.

The litter around West Oxford Community Centre has been quite heavy in the past, so we try to get out there a couple of times a year for a clean up. With the whizz-bang of fireworks all around we set off for our autumn session. Despite some Halloween detritus, and some unusual finds (a French dictionary, burglar alarms, mini-bedspread, pants), we were pleasantly surprised by the state of the litter. We collected far less than usual - good job West Oxford!

...there's nothing quite like it!

After a few last-minute re-thinks thanks to trains, work and sickness we finally embarked on our Cotswold Walk. The advance party did a circuit of Kingham village before looping back to the station to collect the train-team (delayed by engine failure). We then free-styled a walk route very loosely based on the backwards version of the original plan, aided by the OS map app and a bit of local knowledge.

There was mud. Lots of mud. And Ben found all of it. Those trainers and trousers will never be the same again! 3 tumbles into the mud (Ben - 2, Anwen -1), a few horses and a field of sheep, and we arrived for our lunch booking bang on time. It could be said that we filled our boots with pub grub, then rolled back to the station, passing the small child in a tutu on a miniature pony (only in the Cotswolds...), fuelled by chips and sticky toffee pudding.

Hopefully there will be fewer logistical issues next time we go on an adventure, but it was lovely to spend a few hours walking, sliding through mud and chatting.

Wholesome.

What a difference 6 months makes! Back in October we had a super-soaker of a Community Mission at the Highfield Unit of the Warneford Hospital. Today we were basking in the sun as we gardened.

The Highfield Unit is the young person's ward at the Warneford Hospital. It has a large garden, which is wonderful for the young people but quite hard to keep in order with just one gardener for the whole hospital site. Today we were called in to work some GoodGym magic.

One of our small teams focused on the garden area outside the dining room: This was the domain of the injured GoodGym runners ;-) Since our last visit the weeds have re-established themselves, so we cleared them and pruned the unruly shrubbery to improve the mealtime view. Through in the next-door section of the garden another GoodGym team de-tangled brambles from choking the rosemary bush and apple sapling, and weeded and pruned as much of the border foliage as we could manage.

It's going to take a few visits to get he garden looking it's best, but we made a good start today filling 9 wheelbarrow loads of weeds and brambles.

The Highfield Unit have sussed the way to our hearts, supplying hobnobs and water to keep us fueled and hydrated as we worked.

Welcome Amy - glad you could join us for the first time.

Top suggestion of the day: Mayor Mark should instigate Umuganda in Oxford.