What a great evening! This was our 4th ever Group Run in Windsor and Maidenhead, a whole 497 days since our last one and definitely our first in a heat wave. Congratulations to the 10 glowing GoodGymers who came out and took part in this historical event, and a warm (baking hot in fact!) welcome to Claire, who joined us for the first time this evening. Do head over to her profile to support her and give her cheers. A special mention also to 'on-a-roll-Jen', who joined us from GoodGym Slough for her third good deed in as many days.

Get me to the church on time

We met up in Oaken Grove Park for a briefing and warm up (as if we could get any warmer!) Everyone promised not to do anything dangerous and we set off in two groups. Diya led the walkers straight down All Saints Avenue to All Saints Church, our beneficiary for the evening. Amy took the runners on a more circuitous 2km down (and up and down and up) Belmont Park Avenue. The walkers beat the runners to the church and were already busy sanding the dado rails in the parish hall by the time the runners arrived. Georgeta also met us at the church having cycled from home.

Dado see how quickly they painted those rails?

Georgeta, Roberta, Hannah, Kanika, Claire and Diya made rapid work of the dado rails, finishing them with a refreshing coat of white paint. They then tackled the doors, racing through a first coat before the church bells chimed 8 and time was up. Meanwhile Juli and Jess got into an energetic rhythm with the spade and hoe cutting back grass to create a straight edge on one of lawns and Jen and Amy pulled up more weeds and grass around the quadrangle. Jen also did a great job raking up lots of dried leaves in one corner.

All Saints Church is a fabulous historical building and it was great to be welcomed back by Father Jeremy and church historian Ken for our second session in this lovely local setting - the first being a community mission a few weeks ago.

Can't leaf a job half finished!

The large tree in the quadrangle was in bloom and it made a picturesque centrepiece for our post-task fitness session. The whole group contributed with exercises ranging from squats to dancing and arabesques. Our 'timer' for each exercise was one team member gathering 5 handfuls of leaves into a bag , taking turns to help finish the job Jen started earlier.

Would you like sprinkles with that?

By this point we had all worked up a sweat, so we decided to add a sprinkling of fun. Thanks to GoodGym member James, who set up a sprinkler en route back to Oaken Grove. Like a bunch of big kids we all ran through the refreshing spray squealing and then carried on back to Oaken Grove feeling refreshed. The park looked beautiful in the setting sun and we enjoyed some stretches to finish. Do check out the photos for 'Ninja Jess''s recommended facial expression for balancing during a standing glute stretch...! Goodbyes were a bit reluctant as it was such a lovely evening to be out, but thankfully there is lots more fun to be had on upcoming sessions.