What an absolute pleasure to support today’s mission: helping holistic horticultural community interest company, Socorro, to build a polytunnel at the Derwent Oak Community Growing Space. The polytunnel will be used to grow fruit and vegetables with and for the local community, teaching horticulture and cookery skills, and providing food to those who need it. Even more than that, this community project will bring together people from different groups of society, sharing stories, skills and resources that benefits everyone’s wellbeing. It was really inspiring to hear about the impact this will have on so many people.

It was an exciting day for GoodGym Derby as we celebrated Lorraine’s 1st task and Tracey’s 99th (that’s an incredible 100 good deeds between them!) And what better way to celebrate Tracey's amazing milestone than with a flake 99!

Now talk about doing good and getting fit … Tracey cycled to and from the task (including a hilly diversion when encountering a closed footpath!), having also run at Parkrun this morning, Pete marshalled at Parkrun, saving his legs for the Derby 10k tomorrow (go Pete!) and Lorraine is going stand up paddleboarding tomorrow … it’s lucky we’re an energetic bunch because today’s task took a lot of strength!

It was a big and slightly daunting task, but thankfully Socorro's Chris knew what he was doing so we just followed his brilliant instructions. After carefully measuring the area, we worked in small teams to assemble the poles and build the metal arches. We found different tasks for different heights (playing to our natural strengths and lengths!) with Pete and Naomi holding the high centre poles and Tracey and Lorraine keeping things steady on the sides. Then half the team built the timber doors and frames while the others dug a trench around the structure. We stayed for an extra couple of hours to get as much done as possible, but had to leave Chris to finish off without us. We excitedly await the final photos and an opportunity to go back and help with sowing some seeds.

Huge thanks to Reverend Sharon for inviting, hosting and feeding us; to Chris and Lynn from Socorro for their guidance, expertise and enthusiasm; and to our superhero GoodGym team who so worked so hard, determined to make a big impact while loving every minute!