Full commitment from six GoodGymers as we tackled painting the kitchen at Sherwood Community Centre. With shoes off (Matt and Peter) and overalls on (Nigel and Pete) we rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in
Somehow we kept out of each others way and managed to get a coat on all the way round the kitchen. We also welcomed Lisa for her first ever GoodGym task, hopefully the first of many!

We returned to Sherwood Community Centre last night for our latest task. Under skies filled with pretty fireworks, loud bangs and other sounds (more on that later), we met Louise on arrival who set us to work on various exciting jobs around the centre.

Leah, Florence and Tom started off by moving books and radiators around the maze of the building. The books included a diverse range of titles (as shown in the photos), although most were about steam trains and the wars. Once they had finished this job, they moved onto dusting and painting the hallway area, and Tom had the honour of hanging the welcome sign in the foyer.

Also inside the building, Matt turned his hand to a spot of painting while Nigel celebrated his 50th good deed with the important task of painting over the ‘Barbie’ pink wall in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, outside, Peter, Khiltee and I tackled the leaves in the grounds, sweeping, raking and bagging as much as we could in the hour. As well as being treated to a soundtrack of booms from the fireworks, we also noticed that we could hear two very distinct hoots of owls coming from the trees above. As we stopped to listen, along with some of the centre-users who were leaving after their exercise class, we caught a glimpse of one of the owls swoop from one tree to the next. What a privilege!

Thank you to Louise from the Sherwood Community Centre for hosting us and, as always, giving us lots of fun tasks to do. We will be returning next week for more (sign up here).

Now, to the milestones. Congratulations to Nigel on his 50th good deed, Peter on his 60th and Leah on her 80th. Oh, and it was my 150th! 😛

GoodGym Nottingham were in demand this week as we had requests for help in two locations on opposite sides of Nottingham. As we can’t be in two places at once (sadly), we decided to split up and give everyone the option of attending in Sherwood or in the Meadows.

The Sherwood group returned to the Community Centre where we helped out last week as there were still a lot of jobs for us to get stuck into. Once again, Louise was there to welcome us and tell us what needed doing, and we split into 3 groups to tackle each job.

Dayna and Rachel were tasked with moving a pile of plastic matting to one of the grassy areas which will hopefully enable it to be used for additional car parking at events. The mats had clearly not been moved for a long while and had become home to various insects and spiders who will now need to find a new place to dwell. They also had to remove all the old plastic pegs which had held the mats down previously, which proved to be the trickiest and most time-consuming part of the task.

Group 2, Rose and Florence, were tasked with sorting out some of the cupboards inside the community centre. Those of us who were outside did not see exactly what this involved, but the photos suggest it may have involved moving books, suitcases and….bottles of champagne???

Meanwhile, in the back garden of the community centre Peter was tasked with trying to dig out a wooden rail that had seen better days. Unfortunately it was securely concreted in and, whilst one side came loose the other was not to be shifted. Soil replaced and copious amounts of water (not champagne) were drunk!

As the hour drew to a close, everyone helped to lay out the plastic matting before a quick group photo.

Thanks again to Louise at the Sherwood Community Centre for having us and we hope to return again very soon.

We welcomed Florence to her first GoodGym session and Dayna back for her second!

Last night’s task was right on point as a fabulous 10 of us headed to the Sherwood Community Centre. We were met on arrival by Louise who talked us through our jobs for the evening.

The main task was to move several metal storage cabinets from one cupboard space to another – sounds simple, right? But before the cabinets could be moved, they needed emptying of all sorts of contents, most of which was not boxed, bagged or in any particular order. We also needed to move some ballet bars from the destination cupboard which were to be re-homed in the original cupboard next door. Once the storage cabinets were safely in their new cupboard home (which Dayna had diligently measured up to check which order the cabinets would need to be placed), we then had to restock them with their contents, ensuring that the same items went back in the cabinet in which they started.

Alongside this, we were also tasked with removing some items from the original cupboard (but that weren’t in a metal storage cabinet) and transporting them to a shed outside in the garden. Finally, a few of us also helped with moving some items of rubbish and broken furniture to a garden area at the rear of the carpark. Are you still following?

It was a complex task worthy of any escape room or Taskmaster challenge, and with 10 of us it did get a little chaotic at times. Thankfully Louise was on hand to direct us and despite a few confused moments we managed to successfully complete our mission (hopefully with every item back in its rightful place….).

We thoroughly enjoyed our first visit to the Sherwood Community Centre. Not only did 10 of us attend which may be one of our records, we got to channel our inner Chuckle Brothers, Darcey Bussell and Dale Winton as we moved furniture, ballet bars and a shopping trolley!

As you can see, by the end we were jeté-ing with joy (well, some of us were…).

A warm welcome to Dayna who completed her first GoodGym task. Also a big congrats to Peter who has completed his 40th task - the countdown is on to the black t-shirt!!

We will be returning to the Sherwood Community Centre next week for more fun – why not join us? Sign up here.