Christmas may be long gone but we're still shingling all the way in Windsor and Maidenhead...all the way to Holyport FC, a friendly community-run football club with heaps of potholes and a heap of shingle ready to patch up the holes. Shortly before we were due to set off we heard from our task owner that the shingle was too frozen to shift, but it was too late to cancel and we figured we could still enjoy a walk and a natter even if the task proved impossible.

All the shingle ladies met in the cold and damp outside Coop and had a quick warm up. Then Gillian and Jen set off dashing through the rain, Lou zoomed off in a one horse open sleigh (sort of) to open up the club ready for our arrival and Georgeta, Amy and Tessa walked the 2km to club laughing all the way.

We collected tools and wheelbarrows, found the shingle heap in the dark and set to work. The shingle was quite hard, but to our great satisfaction, we found we were able to work it! 45 minutes later we were all nice and warm, we'd enjoyed a great upper body workout, we'd had no (pick) axe-cidents, we'd had barrows of laughs, and we had ferried countless barrows of shingle along the lane and into the dips and hollows.

As the whistle blew for full time and torch lights started to fade, spirits were bright. Against the odds, we had achieved the task and oh, what fun...! We celebrated with some wonderful cookies (thanks Rich!) before heading for home.