After meeting new member Nicola and a mini litter pick around Marston we descended upon the Up in Arms to say farewell and bon voyage to Anwen.

This is the speech that I MEANT to give before I became a blubbering mess......

After 7 years and an amazing 665 good deeds the Queen of Goodgym Oxford is departing for a new European adventure.

The impact that Anwen has had on Oxford cannot be underestimated. She has gathered us to clean food banks, create green spaces, look after community gardens, remove brambles, weed walls, clear litter and even move an organ over a railway bridge.

As I was making my way to the task this evening I passed all the beautiful daffodils that we've planted - a cheerful reminder that Goodgym was here!

We have had many running adventures too - parkruns, races, our View Cones run in memory of our lovely Tim, and marathons in fun places. If Anwen sends you a link to a races and says "fancy it?" you should ALWAYS say yes!!

Anwen you kept us going through Covid (with Trev's help) providing essential food packages and prescriptions for the community and much needed social contact for us too. You have literally supported us through births, deaths and marriages and everything in between.

A thank you should also be said on behalf of the stray and feral cats of Oxfordshire - another example of your capacity to nurture and care.

Oxford's loss is very definitely France's gain and we will miss you. Please raise your glasses to Anwen!!

Oxford Preservation Trust have a piece of meadow land up on Harcourt Hill which they want to use for grazing. A water supply has been sorted, fencing is on it's way, and the final job on the list is to get the ragwort explosion under control.

Common ragwort is one of the most frequently visited flowers by butterflies in the UK and more than 200 species of invertebrate have been recorded on it. However, despite it's benefits to biodiversity, it needs to be got rid of on grazing land. Ragwort poses a significant threat to livestock, particularly horses and cattle. While animals generally avoid it in its green state due to its bitter taste, they can ingest it when it's dried in hay or silage, or when other food sources are scarce. While ragwort is not a neurotoxin in the strictest sense, it can cause neurological symptoms in animals due to the liver damage it causes. The plant's toxins primarily affect the liver. When the liver is damaged, it can no longer properly filter toxins from the blood, leading to a buildup of these toxins and impacting brain function, resulting in neurological signs.

Hugging the shade, we set about digging and pulling up as much ragwort as we could. We managed a good haul, almost filling a tonne bag with plants. This is definitely an ongoing task, but we feel like we made a good start at it.

With the temperature finally starting to drop by the end of the session we had a beaut of a run post-task up towards Boars Hill.

Welcome to GoodGym Becca!

The hayfever was RAGING this evening but we are STRONG!!

This evening we headed back to OXSRAD, but this time for an outside task. As part of their general spruce up, attention has now turned to the garden and access paths. The wheelchair access paths were getting quite overgrown and picnic tables in the community garden needed sanding ready for repainting.

Armed with shovels, trowels, a broom and an electric sander we made short work of our tasks and left the area looking a lot tidier than when we arrived. GREAT WORK TEAM!!

Some of us then headed into the evening for a magical mystery exploration of Oxford's footpaths and nature reserves.

Welcome to Goodgym Maruf, we hope to see you again soon!

On Saturday we were out on the river with the Falcon canoers and kayakers for the Paddle UK Big Paddle Clean Up.

The weather forecast looked dodgy, so we stayed relatively close to the club house this time, tackling the Longbridges Nature Reserve, Folly Bridge area, and Aston's Eyot. We persevered through rain showers for a huge haul of the usual cans, bottles and (normal for Oxford) drowned bikes. Special mention to the picnic chair halfway up a tree which we managed to hook down!

It was great to refresh the skills we learnt from the canoers last month, while doing a good deed. Good work paddlers!