A stonking 9 GoodGymers turned up for what I think was one of our most unusual litter picks yet. At least in terms of finds!

It was great to see so many people 😍 Special shoutouts to Chris for completing his very first GoodGym task, to Soliane who'd just got back in from a run round the corner and popped over to join us with about 3 minutes' notice, and to Nigel for completing his 15th task.

After pairing up, we spread out across the park and filled a wholly satisfying heap of bags with litter. And not just bottlecaps, crisp packets and cigarette butts. Not by a long shot. "Weirdest Item Wins" doesn't always get that weird, but the litter louts of St Mary's Rest Garden gave us so much, I have no idea who to award the honour to. What do you think?

We had:

• A coconut with straw
• A fur coat
• A car bumper
• A road sign
• A parasol umbrella
• A Blue Peter badge (appropriately found by Peter)

Sound off in the comments with your vote!

On what was a wonderful Wednesday for Team GB in Paris, Team GG (Nottingham) were going for gold at Victoria Embankment at what proved to be one of our most challenging events yet – litter picking where there wasn’t much litter! After meeting Emily for a quick briefing, the pack split and headed off at pace, armed with litter picking batons and a determination to bag some rubbish.

It was a lovely warm bright evening (grateful that we don’t yet need our torches), although we were competing with a bit of wind which caused our bags to flap like flags. We were also thrown by all the feathers lying around the place which looked a lot like bits of rubbish. Thankfully, all our litter-picking training leading up to this event paid off and we all managed to rise to the challenge. By the end we were running rings around all those pesky cigarette butts and lolly sticks!

After 45-minutes or so, we met at the finish line for our usual closing ceremony – a chance to relay to each other what we had collected followed by a group podium photo. There were no stand-out items worthy of a gold medal on this occasion – a BBQ grill, a toy car, a silver key ring and a picnic blanket qualified in the ‘slightly exciting’ category.

For those of us who ventured down to the riverside itself, we were treated to the sight and sound of some dragon boat teams training out on the water, as well as the occasional group of paddle boarders and kayakers gliding by. Being so close to Trent Bridge, we also heard a lot of whooping and cheering from what sounded like an exciting cricket match. Oh, and a huge group of runners went by en mass(cot) – unfortunately we all had high-viz vests on so we don’t think they would have spotted our red t-shirts.

Thanks to everyone who attended for being such good sports - Serafina, Nigel, Bozena, Hannah and Vicky.

Come and join us at one of our next sessions – find out more here.

Five Nottingham Goodgymers (Rachel, Nigel, Peter +Hannah & Sarah doing their first good deeds!) met at the canal ready to survey the scene!

Tonight was plogging with a twist as we helped out Emily from the Nottingham Clean Champions with a Plasticblitz litter survey.

Every item plogged was logged and whilst it was disappointing not to find any octopus pots we did settle for the usual cans and bottles plus a toothbrush and a fishing float!

After a last-minute cancellation last week (thanks, circus!) we regrouped at Forest Rec to give the park another blitz.

Probably a good thing we waited, actually, as the grass and hedges were full of ice cream sticks, cups and sweet wrappers left over from the event. It did make a nice change to have our bags smelling like a Haribo factory rather than a very stale brewery though!

Find of the night went to Nigel for his inflatable alien (sadly punctured and destined for the bag. RIP, friend). Leah also found Forest Rec Parkrun's bell sign and was thinking of holding it hostage in exchange for new members until everyone else pointed out that they've more than likely printed a new one by now.

We'll be back with the Clean Champions on Earth Day (22 April), park TBC, so watch this space!

No, not that Forest! Forest Rec!

Three GoodGymers met up with Emily from the Clean Champions to pick up litter around the edge of the park.

Tom came away with 'Weirdest Item' in the form of a curtain (we think), although Rachel and Leah's bits of a dog food box were a close second. Leah also narrowly avoided binning a very, err, well-used kid's ball, but thankfully called out to find its owner before it made its way into a bag.

We'll be back in a couple of weeks for a Great British Spring Clean special, so sign up now!

Apologies for the late report!

A fantastic bunch of eight GGers headed out for our first GoodGym After Dark of the year.

Headtorches and high-vis duly donned, we paired up to clear the park of litter with equipment and assistance from Emily from the Clean Champions.

While he didn't find two bags' worth of beer cans this time, Peter did manage to bag an ironing board and a traffic cone!

Also a special shoutout to Nina who joined us for the first time, bringing along a friend and demonstrating some excellent plogging enthusiasm!

Keep an eye out for our next mission with the Clean Champions, we might not even need headtorches soon!