Eight GoodGym runners gathered at Edinburgh Street Food for this week's group run. It was a slightly longer route today with plenty of uphill, bit shout out to everyone for managing 7.5km and getting so mulch done with our task too!

Our task partner this week was Friends of the Meadows and Bruntsfield Links (FoMBL) — a volunteer‑led organisation dedicated to protecting, maintaining, and improving one of Edinburgh’s most iconic green spaces. FoMBL works year‑round on projects that support biodiversity, preserve heritage features, improve access, and keep the Meadows and Links welcoming for everyone who uses them: runners, dog walkers, families, students, and wildlife.

We were glad to meet up with our task coordinator today, Neil from FoMBL (20 years volunteering with the group!) was ready and waiting for us, equipped with wheelbarrows, spades, forks, and a clear plan for the evening. With tools in hand, the group split into two groups:

Group 1 had their work cut shifting and spreading mulch around newly planted trees to protect their young roots and retain moisture. Group 2 got down and dirty picking weeds along the walking paths.

After an hour of graft we managed to make good progress. We had been able to clear whole sections of path from weeds and a whole enclosure of new trees was freshly mulched.

Why FoMBL Matters — and How to Get Involved

FoMBL is powered almost entirely by local volunteers who care about the long‑term health of the Meadows and Links. Their work includes planting, maintenance, heritage projects, litter picking, and advocating for the protection of these historic spaces. They have a regular meet up on Friday, you can find out more and get involved on their website:

Anyone can get involved by joining the charity, attending volunteer days, or supporting their campaigns. Their website includes details on membership, upcoming activities, and ways to contribute: https://www.fombl.org.uk/

A Strong Showing from GoodGym Edinburgh

This was one of our longest and most energetic group runs yet, and the effort showed. The combination of distance, hills, and physical volunteering made for a proper GoodGym workout — and Neil seemed pleased with how much we managed to get done.

GoodGym Edinburgh is off to a strong start. It's a simple concept - meet, run, help, connect, repeat. It's great to see our little community starting to get established after only 3 weeks!

Shout out to Holly and Rory for their first runs, both made big contributions tonight.

Also shout out to Katie for becoming the first member of GoodGym Edinburgh to take on the Taskforce volunteer role!

Our second ever GoodGym Edinburgh group run is officially in the books, and it was a fantastic follow up to last week's launch. Six runners met at Edinburgh Street Food, had a quick warm up and covered over 6km on our route to and from our litter picking task working with the brilliant Fountainbridge Canalside Community Trust (FCCT) . We even managed to fit in a quick workout in Harrison park.

FCCT is a great charity working to improve the area around the Union Canal through social inclusion, environmental projects, and community action. Their work keeps the canal welcoming, safe, and vibrant for everyone who uses it. A big thank you to Rob for coordinating and Annie who volunteered to be on hand to dish out equipment. We were supplied with bin bags, metal hoops, gloves, grabbers and a net and got to work quickly.

🧹 In a short space of time we managed to cover Fountainbridge Green and the area around Boroughmuir High School, a section of the canal tow path and Harrison Park East. We estimated around 900 bits of litter collected between the 6 of us. I did manage to embarrassingly misjudge a patch of mud and spent the rest of the session with soaked shoes, but we emerged unscathed otherwise. With some energy to spare we squeezed in a quick pyramid workout challenge before heading back across town

By the time we tied off the final bags, the difference was clear — cleaner paths, safer spaces, and a noticeably more welcoming stretch of canal for the community.

🏃 A Growing Group With Growing Impact Even though we’re only two runs in, the Edinburgh crew is already finding its rhythm: meet, run, help, chat, repeat. It's a pretty simple formula.

🙌 Thanks, FCCT

A huge thank you to Fountainbridge Canalside Community Trust for partnering with us so early in our journey. Their commitment to community‑led stewardship of the canal makes them a perfect match for GoodGym’s mission — and we’re excited to keep building this relationship. For anyone wanting to get more involved with them, check out their website www.fcct.scot/ which has more info on their activities including:

RE-UNION CANAL BOATS – 3 boats providing funded social inclusion and mental health trips and activities, special events, community group trips and private hires VOLUNTEERING – activities, training and development opportunities on and around the canal CANALSIDE WELLBEING WALKING GROUP – weekly walks part of the Scottish Health Walks Network EDINBURGH CANAL FESTIVAL – our flagship annual event on the third Saturday in June COMMUNITY EVENTS – we also organise and get involved with other local events, particularly those with an outdoor, creative or wellbeing focus CANALSIDE GREENSPACE GROUP – exploring and improving our local greenspace, for people and for nature

Wow, what a great first session launching GoodGym Edinburgh with a bang!

Big shout out to all the runners and walkers who turned up for the debut Tuesday Group Run. We were joined by GoodGym CEO Hannah Crane who made the trip up from London to celebrate Scotland's first GoodGym community getting started.

We set off from Edinburgh Street Food with our running and walking groups and made good time down to Leith Community Croft where the incredible Ali from Earth In Common was on hand to share out tools, tell us about the work they do and talk us through what needed done.

I was blown away by how much weeding, wheelbarrowing, clearing and tidying up we were able to get through in a short space of time. The raised beds were looking in good shape once we were done, we had managed to clear a good chunk of material off site into a skip and made a good start on the market garden (potential for a follow up task here I think).

Finishing off with a 'Bring Sally Up' squat challenge before tucking into some discounted grub and drinks at Edinburgh Street Food was a real highlight for me. Looking forward to seeing what other kinds of short workouts we can squeeze into future runs!

A huge thank you to Places for People for their support in helping bring GoodGym Edinburgh to life. Their partnership has been key to getting this new community off the ground.

For the next sessions I'll be looking for helpers in run leading and photography. There are also opportunities to get involved in setting up tasks as a member of Taskforce. if you'd like to help out with GoodGym Edinburgh just drop me an email.

big love,

Dave