It was a Cool(ley's) evening in Eton Wick, so we started with a warm up including lots of hopping about, before power walking along the river to our task at Coolley's Meadow.

Our first achievement was finding lovely task owner Claire in the dark. She always has Eton Wick-ed tasks lined up for us and this evening was no exception. Our to do list included fruit trees to plant, litter to gather and a buddleia to relocate. She also had a torch that resembled a light saber and some garden forks, which tee-d Lou up nicely for our report title.

Gillian and Lou took on the litter challenge, and filled 2 big bags with rubbish, much of which had gathered in the arches under the A322. Clara and I planted a cherry tree and plum tree and dug holes ready for the buddleia, which Georgeta and Rachel were busy wrestling and cutting out of the ground with Claire in the adjacent field. Clara and I weren't sure exactly how many holes were needed or how big, so it was a bit of a stab in the dark!

The team re-grouped after about 45 minutes and then we worked together to wedge the buddleia shrubs into their new homes. The clock was ticking so there was no time to beat around the bush(es). We were a bit concerned the leggy buddleia might get blown over before the roots had a chance to take, so Gillian whizzed down the line and cut them back.

We can't wait to see them bounce back in the Spring (fingers crossed!), and no doubt the pollinators will be buzzing too. In their old home the buddleia was normally mown back just at the moment the butterflies would enjoy it most, but together with the fruit trees, in its new position it helps create a 'pollinator positive highway' towards the crop in South Field.

In all the excitement of the January Challenge over the last few days, I failed to realise that Gillian would be achieving her 50th good deed this evening. Indeed Gillian has done 17 of those good deeds in January, and 8 in the last week! Loads of litter picking, crawling through thorns to remove tree guards, sorting donations at the Baby Bank, doing the first timers' briefing at parkrun, and surveying birds are just a few of the brilliant ways Gillian has made a difference in our community. Gillian, huge congratulations to you, and apologies for not celebrating this evening! We will be sure to celebrate soon. Cake makers take note...ready, steady, bake!

Sara and Sheila joined task owners Claire and Andrew in Eton Wick to take down the home-made poppies which had been adorning the village hall railings and tree trunks since we put them up 6 weeks ago. We then moved on to removing the large poppies on the lamp posts on the main road running through the village. We each took on a section of the road, and before long we had snipped all the cable ties holding the poppies in place, and put them away for use next year. We were joined by Samuel who was just tall enough to reach the poppies on the bus stop way above everyone else's head. We learned that there was a pair of poppies to represent each of the 46 Eton Wick residents who perished during the 2 World Wars, plus two for fatalities from the Falklands conflict. It was lovely to be able to help out again.

Another Wick-ed evening helping spruce up the Eton Wick Youth Club. It wasn't really just Sumo-of us that had fun. It was all of us!

Our journey to the task was more of a car share than a run or walk, but to be fair we were all traveling from Maidenhead and Colnbrook (or was it Cippenham!?) and it was raining so hard that visibility was terrible and it didn't feel safe to cycle. At least sharing was greener than not sharing and it allowed us to be sociable.

Gillian, Sara, Lou and I arrived quite early at the Youth Club (desperately seeking shelter) so we had time for a quick Pilates stretch before we welcomed the rest of the team.

It was lovely to see task owners Claire and Helen and they had some great jobs lined up for us.

1. Painting over the old Youth Club logo on the wall so that the space can become more multi-functional - not just for the Youth Club, but also as a community hub. Diya and Gillian ticked off this job so quickly that there was time for a second coat.

2. Building the Christmas tree and decorating it with tinsel and multi-coloured fairy lights. It might seem early for Christmas but it's only 39 sleeps! This task also gave us the chance to answer the burning questions, 'How many GoodGymers does it take to untangle a light bulb string?' The answer is 4: Sheila, Gillian and Georgeta did the bulk of the work but I helped out too.

3. Cleaning the SUMO SUITS. Obviously there was no way to clean the suits without wearing them, but thankfully Lou, Sara, Diya and I didn't take much persuading to step up to the task, and Kanika wasn't shy about getting up close and personal with her j-cloth. Seriously, these suits were sumo-ch fun!

4. Bonus tasks! We also had time to sort out some boxes of balls, bats and bails and Sara even dismantled an old cupboard.

Cutting this evening's run/walk short (in the extreme) also meant more time to get our fitness fix playing with the contents of the games cupboard. I devised a circuit involving table tennis, skipping, hula hooping, squat jumps, tri-cep dips and Twister. It was chaos and there was much laughter, but it also got our heart rates up and helped us work up and appetite for the chocolate cakes that Lou had kindly brought along.

Once we'd Eton our cake it was time to say goodbye. Can't wait for more fun and games next time we visit!

Four GoodGymmers made their way to Eton Wick Village Hall on a beautiful and crisp sunny morning to lend a hand, or few, to help our task sponsor Claire set up for Remembrance Day. The one that's in November, I hear you say? Yes, but this is pre-prep for the prep for the day.

Claire arrived with a boot-load of stuff to get us going - two army guy silhouettes, lots of bottle bottoms, variously sized poppies, fishing net, plastic ties, black ribbons, paint can and spray paints, along with a folding table and some tarps.

Sheila and Diya set about putting a fresh coat of black paint on the silhouettes, while Sara and Kanika took to spray painting bottle bottoms in red to make some bottle-bottom-poppies. Meanwhile, Claire told us about all her plans to set up for the Remembrance Day.

With all required stuff painted black and red (and some that didn't require it), Diya and Sheila went on to rolling up the black ribbons. Claire joined Sara and Kanika in hatching some grand plans about where to cast the fishing net to create poppy-filled displays - sounds a lot more exotic than the "oh we should fold it here...", or "hang it there...", or "cut it where??" - that actually went on. In the end we had a few cut-to-size large pieces of the fishing net on which poppies of various types will be attached. It needed all hands on deck to get done, but that's the GG way alright!

All done, we got a tour of the youth center that some GGers have recently help set up and put in shape. Well done to all those who helped with that! We then said our good-byes, agreed it was a fun morning and we got lots done, then off went Sheila back to Maidenhead on her cycle, Sara was off to her next GG mission for a social visit, and Diya and Kanika, well they just drove off.

There may be a follow up in a few weeks to help with the set up, the prep ie, so watch this space. PS: Claire has put in an order for the sun to be shining for that day, but expect thundery aspect just in case.

We headed to Eton Wick this evening to help make the Youth Centre spick and span before their re-opening. We met at the task location but before we rolled up our sleeves and donned our rubber gloves, we made the most of the last few rays of the setting sun to have a walk or run in the local area.

Both the walking and running routes took us out across Coolley's Meadow and back along the Thames Path, giving us a lovely view of Windsor Castle, as well as bringing back happy GoodGym memories of hay racking and hedgerow management in the area previously. While Lena, Lou and Anita powered round the 2km walking route, runners Rachel, Juli, Jess and I covered just shy of 4km, including discovering a few new footpaths... Special mention to Rachel, who was initially put off by the 4km route, but was persuaded to go for it and did brilliantly.

By the time the runners arrived at the task location, Anita, Lou and Lena had made an impressive start on cleaning and organising the lower kitchen cupboards. Task owner Helen welcomed the runners and showed us the 'games and toys' cupboard, which we were to empty and sort out.

Highlights from the next hour of cleaning and laughter included:

• Seeing what brilliant progress has been made on the venue by task owners Helen and Claire since our first visit.
• Watching Anita and Lena blitz that kitchen. Wow what a great job!
• The human chain to empty the games cupboard - love a human chain!!
• The crazy array of fun stuff that came out of the cupboard. From Christmas decorations to sumo suits...
• Discovering that I have the longest arms out of everyone attending this evening.
• Lou managing to stay away from the pub this time and doing an amazing job sorting and folding the sports kit.
• The efficiency and energy with which Juli, Rachel and Jess took control of the cupboard and gave it a fantastic makeover.
• Finding out how many GoodGymers it takes to get a condemned bean bag into a bin liner. Answer, 4 plus lots of laughing.
• Seeing that A-frame become shiny and clean.
• So many hula hoops to play with...!
• Helen's feedback at the end that she was really thrilled with how much we'd got done this evening.

We had 5 minutes left at the end, which could only mean one thing... time for a quick hula hoop obstacle relay! So. Much. Fun. Well done and thank you GoodGymers for a great evening!

New Task at 'The Wick'

Our task for this evening’s group run (and walk!) was to help prepare the Eton Wick Youth Centre for opening for the first time since the pandemic began. We didn’t even know there was a Youth Centre hiding behind Eton Wick Library, so it was a lovely surprise to be invited to help with this project.

Somewhere under a rainbow…

Our session started with a scenic and sociable walk and run along the Thames Path from Windsor Leisure Centre to Eton Wick. It rained just enough to give us a very faint rainbow and to cool us down after a hot and humid week. Thanks to Clara and Louise, who led the 6 walkers on their 2km route. As they set off I warmed up the runners, and then we followed in their footsteps, adding on the odd ‘long cut’ along the way so that we all arrived at our destination within a few minutes of each other.

Getting out of the Bath

We were greeted on arrival by GoodGym Taskforce member Laura, who was visiting from Bath. Laura used to live in our area and we have really missed her since she moved, so it was great to see her on her hols.

Cleaning Frenzy

We were then welcomed by our lovely task owners, Claire and Helen from Eton Wick Village Association and we quickly set to work:

• Juli, Georgeta, Gillian and Anita energetically attacked the kitchen
• Liz dextrously removed hundred of staples from a noticeboard
• Clara made the leaflet rack sparkle and shine
• Laura worked her magic on the arts and crafts cupboard
• Sara resisted the urge to play with the musical toys and braved the ladder and spiders to clean the hanging sign
• And Louise went to the pub…to borrow a screw driver and remove an old sign

Time flew and it wasn’t long before we had to say our goodbyes and head back to our start location. The return journey was similarly chatty and scenic, with the added bonus of blackberry picking along the way.

There is more work to be done so we look forward to returning for more Wick-ed adventures!