Five Goodgymmers, Eleanor, James, Roger, Keith and Lea turned up for some mucking… well, carrying about 50 bags of manure mulch down some steps to drop them in varying places in the Pine Cliff Gardens, a hidden gem of a cliff top location with views of the sea and even Old Harry in the distance. After the carrying came the cutting open and emptying of the bags. Then the regular garden volunteers could rake the muck around the plants. With each bag weighing between 15-20 kilos, Goodgym’s help was much appreciated. Keith was heaving the bags onto the wheelbarrow and trolley, James, Roger and Eleanor carried them down the steps with Lea doing a one-armed trolley run. Eleanor heaving the bags up as if it was nobody’s business, was very impressive! You can imagine what her hands and tshirt looked like after all that. James, Eleanor and Lea could get rid of any aggression by slashing open the bags before tipping them. Keith and Roger collected the empty bags. A quick coffee and a chat and then a “thank you very much” from Vicky and with that another Goodgym task successfully completed. But the beautiful wooden statues of insects proved too inviting… they provided a nice bit of mucking about after all that mucking!

Yes, the Grockels had done it again: plenty of stuff to be litterpicked today. We had a new Goodgymmer join us: Alina! Then there were four more: James, Roger, Keith and Lea. The Durley Chine car park and the steps up and down got a good going over! On top of the cliff, around Cherry Tree Walk (not that many people know about its existence) and back down to Durley Chine Beach, enough rubbish to fill 6 bin bags. And one huge pile to be reported to the council. Unfortunately no amazingly interesting finds today, just lots of cans, cigarette butts, bottles and… rubbish! A few “thankyous” from passers by and a nice cup of tea (coffee, latte, decaf latte) afterwards and we are happy to have done our bit again. Alina assured us she would like to join us in other tasks, so a good Goodgymmer morning was had by all.

Three and a half Goodgymmers, Roger, Daryl, Keith, and Lea with an injured shoulder, hence only one useful arm, went to Bearwood School. Guess what: the area a few Goodgymmers had cleared a few months ago was again full of stuff… two classrooms had flooded over the holidays, cleared out and all the rubbish thrown out. Including two rabbit hutches; no rabbits though! The big skip was waiting to be filled and did we fill it!! Keith and Daryl had a great time attacking huge slabs of wood, using a jemmy and kicking boards loose. Together they were also dismantling a gate when David, the caretaker, said: “oh, I wanted to keep that!” Too late! All in bits and in the skip with it. luckily he was joking… I hope. Roger, as usual, was a great asset, strong as he is. Even the one-armed Goodgymmer, Lea, managed to toss some stuff in the skip. Her other important task was supervising the men, talking to a lonely Santa in the skip, as well as taking all the photographs to show the good work we were doing. David was certainly very, very pleased again with our efficient and hardworking Goodgym team! Thanks everyone for your hard work.

Well, that’s the song that David quoted to us when another two of his tools got broken this week by two overly enthusiastic Goodgymmers! But I am getting ahead of myself… Five Goodgymmers, Daryl, Roger, Caprice, Keith and Lea, turned up for another session of attacking shrubs in the church garden. That “attacking” was obviously taken too literally by Keith and Daryl… one managed to break a fork and the other managed to break a spade within ten minutes of having started! David Jokes, no, not joking, was none too pleased, although in the end he did manage a joke about it, doing justice to his name. Lots of stuff removed again, lots of barrows wheeled again, but no cutlery was found this week! We must have done a thorough job last week. All looking pleasant enough, even though it was getting too dark to see. Our next session therefore will have to wait till the spring. Pity, we had fun while working hard.