A spa day for the Maiden and pet pampering for her two swans. That was the task that faced Christine, Viv and Sheila. The Maiden and Swans sculpture on Ray Mill Island is now nearly 40 years old and is in need to repair and a touch of paint. A local artist has agreed to give her a make-over but before this can be done she needed a good clean. We set about giving her a scrub with soft brushes and river water, getting into all the folds and crevices. She got the full works - including pedicure, manicure, teeth brushing, hair treatment & skin care. The swans got a good preen. We then gave them all a final rinse. Tara, our taskowner stopped by to say hello and thank us, and also bring us some delicious grapes from her garden. Now all that's needed is a few dry days for the restoration to begin

A creative team of Goodgymers joined forces with Friends of Raymill Island to brighten up and enhance the fun pavement games we had created a few weeks before.

A full dozen of us gathered on Raymill Island and welcomed Ailsa for her first Goodgym session, it was great to have such a large group from both teams.

Our job was two-fold tonight, first re-paint what we had created last time to make the colours pop again and secondly to create some more fun activities for visitors to play! We split ourselves up and some took on the previous creations of, wiggly worms, walking the stem, popping bubbles and hopscotch and gave them a new sparkle! Others helped to create the new bright rainbow, paint the letters of the alphabet, add ladybirds to the hopscotch and paint plasters to the tree roots (to show we were helping to mend and give new life to the island).

It was great fun and everyone brushed up well together to bring the creations to life. Well Done All!

Ten of us joined fellow GGer and task owner Nivi at Ray Mill Island on a perfect summer evening. Our task was to paint some murals on the paths to make them pop!

Some got going with cleaning the path for the artwork, while others chose what they wanted to draw from various drawings that Nivi had chosen. Chalks and paints in hand, the more skilled ones drew out the murals, some tested their drawings for accuracy (see the hopscotch-ers), and then everyone joined in with paints and brushes.

Universally hailed as the most fun task in a long time, it was hard to pull people away from it. Some stayed back a bit longer to finish their handiwork.

Nivi and Sheila got stuck in to some creative tasks at Ray Mill Island. Nivi continued painting the mural at the rear of the toilet block, adding water lilies and dragonflies. It's looking fantastic, and really brightens up this area. Sheila put together some hand-painted signs advertising the bird trail, so that they can be hung from a tree. We are gearing up for the 1st birthday party for the Friends at the beginning of July, when we hope that as many people as possible can join us to celebrate the transformation that has been made to this area.

Welcome to James who joined us for his first Goodgym task.

A couple of hours were well spent doing various tasks. James and Jen tackled tidying up and deweeding around the pots before then fetching some soil from the compost area to help Shoshan repot some plants.

Meanwhile Michael joined Tara and Nivi with moving logs.

Four GoodGymers gathered at Ray Mill Island to help the Friends with their ongoing project to transform the area into a more welcoming and biodiverse place. Today's task was to continue with the dry hedging which is separating off an area which has been sown with wildflowers. Various old branches had been collected which we added to the hedge, and some stronger, more flexible hazel branches were woven over the top to help hold everything in place. We also planted a small oak tree in the area which we hope will one day grow as big as the copper beech which is on its way out (but is still a treasure trove of biodiversity) We all learned some new skills. The last job was to water the recently- planted areas - Mick using the hose, and Sheila making use of the Thames water whilst not falling in!