It was great to have Samantha, Milly, Claudia and Anna join us for their first GoodGym Bristol Group Run tonight - we hope to see you again soon! They joined more than 40 other GoodGymers heading out for an evening in the sun at Felix Road Adventure Playground. On route there was chair holds, squats, press ups and tricep drips. Let's just say there were a few relieved faces to arrive at the task...

Don't Clo chasing waterfalls

The team had prepared various tasks for our masses to split up into:

• The Litter Pickers - as usual, they needed a bunch of clean-beans to tidy up the whole playground from the recent (and current due to half-term) children's visits. They aced it and left it looking spick and span with several bags of rubbish filled.

• The Choppers-and-Loppers - a section of the team were on clearing back the overgrown branches hanging into the football pitch to give the young people a safe place to play. The rest of the group were continuing to clear back the nature area and the ever-growing weeds along the paths. There was so many branches and weeds removed that we filled the bin to the brim and beyond.

• The Waterers and Waterees - Mel was busy working the hose by the time we got there and was joined by a team of watering-can holders to run back and forth around the area rehydrating the grass and plants all around the ground. Somehow, Matt and everyone else seemed to get more water on them than the grass... 👀

• The Impressionists got to work continuing to paint the wooden structure in bright colours to give the whole area a fresh look. We will be continuing this next time...

• The Stationary Stationeryers had the detail-oriented job of removing as many staples as possible from the walls all around the mezzanine of the indoor hall using an array of tools from scissors to screwdrivers to nails!

It was a busy half hour, but don't worry, Matt still found time to lie in the hammock and go on a boat trip with Chris. Phew.

Buzzing for cake

We whipped back to Queen's Square (with a Darren & Alex v. cyclist Strava segment on the way) for a stretch off then we shimmied inside to wish Clo a very happy birthday with birthday bumps and eating her delicious bee shaped cake! 🎈

Welcome to Sophie, Diane, Ellie and Chris who joined us for their first GoodGym Bristol Group Runs tonight!

We quickly split up into two groups. Patrick led The Hardcores on an 8 kilometre return trip to Easton Community Garden. They set a speedy pace and made it out there and back in time to leave 25 minutes to get through all of the tasks Nat had set them including weeding all of the bark at the Community Garden to help it stay strong. According to Nat, you guys were

an awesome bundle of energy and loveliness and got the jobs done at lightning speed! 🎉

Meanwhile...

A sea(gul)l of a-poo-val

The rest of us set off on a 6 kilometre trip to St Werburgh's Community Centre. Alice was deemed the luckiest of us all on the way as 26 of us dodged a seagull's toilet trip and it landed right down her (previously beautifully clean) GoodGym t-shirt. Alice wasn't sure she agreed on how lucky she felt...

When we arrived at the Centre we were diverted while they set up and we got the chance to fit in a fitness session before we got started on the task (Alice's luck was obviously rubbing off on the whole group). We split into two teams to play circuits Cat and Mouse. Well done to the Cats who caught their Mice, while the other group were remaining equal despite some questionable counting and corner cutting going on.

We got back to the Centre and split into two groups: a team headed out in the evening sun to deliver some Helpful Peeps leaflets to the local area. Another team tackled the outdoor area of the Centre to dig up, brush up and bag up all the remaining rubber pieces from around the play area and give everywhere a good tidy-up. In just 15 minutes the place looked a lot better!

We headed back to base to feast on Claire's super delicious belated 50th Good Deed celebration cakes in the remaining sunshine. Credit to Matt for the pun!

On a lovely day we gathered for the Bristol 10k.

First a photo in Queen Square with everyone and Mair.

We headed to the start line soon(ish) after nine.

Then off we all went with energy and intent.

The GG marshals were a treat and some of us got a sweet (nice Tutu Emma!)

There were lots of personal bests but not all in GG vests... Andy (cough).

Perfect.

It was great to have Sarah, Karen, Elizabeth, Janine, Beanie, Claire, Genoveva and Zhang join us on their first Group Run tonight, several of whom were joining us as part of the Bristol SU Mind Your Head campaign. Welcome all!

We got warmed up (and I had to warm up my Maths due to Clem's demands) then split into two groups for the night with Liam leading a shorter-run group and the rest of us heading on a 5km loop.

Tool-tal wipeout

Liam's group (with impressive 2-day post marathon backmarking from Matt) headed to Faithspace where we were helping Hotwells and Redcliffe Development Group. This was a task planned a couple of months ago which we got distracted from by helping them with an emergency that night instead. By now, our planned gardening was desperately needed! The group set to work with gardening in the small park next to Faithspace, making a big difference to brightening up the local community. Another group were given the task of leafleting about the community happenings to the local houses, which turned into more of a challenge due to the extreme lack of residential houses in the area! They ventured further afield and managed to complete the task in no time.

Don't skip a beat

The rest of us set off to our regular session at Felix Road Adventure Playground. Thank you to Richard B for wonderful backmarking on our journey along the cycle path with chair, squat and sprint fitness stops and a cheer team of a several groups of local children on wheels. We soon arrived and were met by the usual overjoyed welcome from the team. The group were split into two: a skip team and gardening team.

Team Skip got to work with with smashing and bashing (technical term) to fit all the items into the skip. I must say, I have never seen such a neatly packed skip in all my life, neither have I witnessed someone saw a wheely bin in half (nice work Russ) or get quite so into hammering things to pieces (slightly worrying, really...) Team Gardening had the massive task of tackling all the nettles, brambles and sticky willy (I promise it's an innocent thing) to clear the land for planting and make it safe for the children to play.

In half an hour the team smashed through the tasks and once again left a very pleased Felix Road team with 6 bags of garden waste bagged, 2 bags of litter picked and a full skip waiting to be collected.

Tool-y, skip-y, sticky missions complete!