We spent a beautiful day serving hot meals and sweets to people in need in this very cold weather. I hope we were able to put smiles on their faces. ☺️💐💙 Abdulrahman

It was a busy evening as FoodCycle were very short of volunteers, so it was great that so many GoodGymers turned out for the first FoodCycle meal of the New Year. Gill had been on food collection last week, and turned up early to unlock the church and start weighing some of the produce. She was then the project leader in the kitchen and supported the other volunteers in creating a delicious three course meal, including her cho chip pudding with hot chocolate sauce.

Another first for the day was Teklay, who, as a newer member of GoodGym made his debut at FoodCycle. He was soon allocated the role of potwasher, which he embraced wothout complainnt and was soon elbow deep in the sink, washing and drying pots, pans and dishes. Abdulrahman, Neill and Susannah then joined the hosting team. Susannah was a fabulous Maître D, welcoming the guests and providing them with a tiket for their goody bag. Neill and Abdulrahman completed the setup of the hall, were great waiting staff and did a brilliant job of tidying up at the end of the meal. We served over 40 meals and as Abdulrahman said, put a smile on all uor guests faces. Gill

Four GoodGymers were keen to get the Tub2Pub challenge off to a good start. Either that or they were keen to get rid of the evidence of all the chocolates they'd eaten over the holidays.

Laura was first to complete the task on a very icy Saturday morning at The Grove Pub in Welwyn after orienteering in the nearby woods. Later that day Ella made a trip to the Biscot Mill, unfortunately there were on cages this year, and the staff were a bit cagey.

On Sunday morning Gill dropped a tin off at the Ewe and Lambs who were a little bemused. Omar was busy walking to the Biscot Mill with a tub, and on the way found several more in a bin which he rescued to take with him. As they still did not have the cages out he called on Gill for some reinforcement and together they took the tubs into the pub. Again the bar staff was quite cagey. I wouldn't quite say they snubbed us, but Gill needed to use her persuasive skills to remind them that they are doing the Tub2Pub scheme and that they would love to take our tubs from us to raise funds for Macmillan.

A merry way to close the year at the cafe! Weldone to every goodgymer for their relentless support year round. Wishing us all a happy holiday!

On Sunday morning two GoodGymers teamed up with the Luton and Dunstable Conservation Volunteers. Where we worked on clearing scrubland and improving chalk grassland habitat. We cut down a lot of Hawthorn and Rosehip bushes in the process. As always the Wildlife trust volunteers kept us going with their array of cakes and hot drinks.

Not everything was put on the bonfire however, some of the Rosehip was spared for another GoodGym project - assisting with seed collecting.

We had a fabulous team out this morning to help with the monthly Dallow Downs Litter Pick. When they list the task as a litter pick they don't always warn us about the scale of the task, but there is very little that can discourage the GoodGymers in Luton. We started off with litter pickers and hooped bags, but then Sophie - the task owner mentioned that, hidden in the trees was a mountain of items that looked liked they had been tipped from one or more of the houses backing onto this once green space. Always up for a challenge and a work out, several of the team relinquished their bags and were led by Gill up into the trees. Omar retrieved two tyres, and not long after Gill found two tyres still attached to their wheels. These were soon carried down the hill to the entrance of the pathway. They might have been feeling time, but soon Fawaz and Abdulrahman were walking down with a double matress. Two more matresses were unearthed, and additional execricse was gained from some competitive matreess racing fromAbdulrahman and Fawaz on Team A and Ezrik, Atsiba , Teklay and Mohammed. While the team of two did finish first, the VAR decided there may have been some cheating, as they gave themselves a head start. And Abdulrahman and Fawaz then had a further race while carrying kitchen cupboards up high. Nuriya and Zainab did a fabulous job of continuing with the litter picking in the park while all these shenanigans were going on. It was just a shame that Zain ended up slipping down the hillside in the mud at the end of the task, with no matresses there to break her fall. Congratulations to Mohammed as this was his first GoodGym Community Task. We think he enjoyed it, and hope we haven't put him off getting involved in future tasks.

The last group run of the year was the first group run for Ezrik,Atsiba and Teklay. Welcome to the team guys!

This week's task took us to Azalea where Tracey awaited us with a heavyweight assignment:

Step 1: Detatch and remove the two tumble dryers attached to the top of the washing machines.

Step 2: Move the washing machines down the stairs and outside for waste collection.

Step 3: Bring in and install the new washing machines, replace the tumble dryers.

Side-tasks included moving several radiator covers from the top floor, down three flights of stairs to the basement and detatching a faulty TV from it's wall bracket.

After plenty of up-and-down and heave- ho-ing we got everything in its place and said farewell and Merry Christmas to Tracey as we headed out for a gentle run through the town centre on a tree tour to take in all the festive lights.

Finally, to round off the night, and the year of Group Runs, we headed to the Bricklayer's Arms for some drink and a toast to another good year of GoodGym Luton!