One balmy July evening, 5 enthusiastic GoodGymers headed to the The Gap Community Centre to tend to overgrown gardens and clear access to the centre.

The Gap (https://www.thegapwarwick.org) started in 1999, as a project to help bring together community members in North Warwick, providing a range of clubs, activities and social services, with a strong belief in the “transformational power of people getting together to support one another”.

The community centre space is very well used and our mission tonight was to make sure that the gardens were spick and span and clear away plants that were hindering access to the building.

We pruned, pulled, raked and tidied and left warmed by the lovely image of the gardens - and the summer sun, which continued to shine throughout the task!

Welcome to Ed and Suyash, joining their first GoodGym task!

This was a really deceptive task - it looked like no amount of sweeping, chopping cutting back and shoveling would get this area clear. But 7 pairs of GoodGym hands proved us wrong and in a couple of hours we had the yard at Packmore's looking ship-shape.

All that is needed now is to get the leaves, branches, moss etc shoveled into bags for the council to remove. Then all is set for Packmore's Easter Event - scheduled to take place on Saturday 19th April.

Another beautiful day for some GoodGym'ing in the sunshine ♥️

Last Saturday, we had a wonderful time as dancing queens - Catherine, Lucy, Maisy and Jo (and Nugget the dog) - helped to shape the turf and bring the Labyrinth to life at All Saints Church garden in Leamington Spa. Under the expert guidance of Lucie from ARC (Achieving Results in Communities), we made great progress. While the delivery of perennials and bulbs has been delayed, we focused on digging out the planted sections of this intricate and beautiful Labyrinth. It was a perfect day to be outdoors, followed by a lovely cuppa and a biscuit to wrap it all up. This is an ongoing project, so if you'd like to get involved, there will be future sessions where you can join us in creating this amazing space.

Another beautiful day for Parkrun- this time a brisk 5k walk around Warwick Racecourse as a park walker - supporting those that aren’t quite as fast around the track. Had the opportunity to walk with the amazing Sue who has had 2 hip operations recently! A former marathon runner, Sue is getting her fitness and agility back by coming along to Parkrun’s Saturday morning challenge. Also waked with another volunteer Phil from Nottinghamshire who, at the age of 75, has visited 175 Parkrun locations - with this one putting him at over 200 that he’s taken part in! Having already completed the A to Z of Parkrun’s together with his son, they are now almost all of their way through the A to Z of Parkrun volunteering!

This is exactly what I love about volunteering - you just get to meet such interesting people! Bon weekende 💕