We finally managed to get another date in the diary with Kathryn after a very long gap.

Nigel, Leah, Rob and mini GoodGymers Carys and Milo (who we think were celebrating their 10th task) headed down to Lindum Grove to help get the gardens ready for the summer.

The sun was shining gloriously for us as we worked our way through a couple of tasks Kathryn had planned. Nigel and Rob were over the road in the patch where we planted trees a while back, digging out some very spiky weeds that had managed to break through the plastic sheeting that was supposed to keep them at bay. There are some plans afoot to maybe create a shelter of some kind in that space once it's fully cleared, so keep your eyes peeled!

Back in the garden itself, Leah and the kids were tasked with smashing up bags of clay with a mallet, then stamping it into finer dust, then putting it back into sacks. It turns out that this is a recycling project involving another GoodGym task host, Windmill Community Gardens. They're replacing their old clay oven, so they've donated it to Lindum Grove. We were smashing it up into powder ready to be turned into new clay that Kathryn plans to turn into their own oven some day soon. Apparently this may involve barefoot stomping of clay – we'll let you know if there's a chance to lend a foot!

GoodGym Nottingham returned to the Bridgeway Hall this week. Usually we are working in the foodbank, but as the clocks have changed and the weather (apparently) more favourable, our task for this time was to help with some tidying in the garden area in preparation for the summer months.

As we all made our way to the task, we were subject to dark skies, rain and hail stones. Thankfully, by the time we arrived the sun was shining again as we met our host, Dave, who showed us what he wanted us to do.

Unfortunately, someone else had gone home with the key to the shed meaning we had limited tools and gardening gloves, but we made the best of what we had and most of the group – Khiltee, Nat, Leah, Lindsey, Peter and Rachel - spent the hour tackling the weeds in and between the raised beds.

Meanwhile, Dayna turned her attention to trimming the branches that were poking through the fence at the back of the yard, and Matt and Nigel put in some hard graft splitting up some wooden pallets, preserving as much of the wood as possible which will be repurposed as benches for the front of the food bank.

After an hour of physical work and, as usual, meaningful conversation covering running, modern languages, how to hoe and what a bat would look like in a bowler hat, we packed up and went on our merry way.

We wished a belated happy 50th GoodGym task to Matt who was already proudly wearing his black t-shirt. Also, a big shout out to Peter who is running the Manchester Marathon this coming weekend – good luck Peter!!