4 GoodGymers joined forces this morning at Spital Cemetery in Windsor. Our task was a simple one, weed a long bed, just leaf the roses alone!! As a political discussion threatened to delay the start, Sheila gently coaxed us over to the task location. As the weeds were pulled, the conversation moved from imminent knee operations, to travels plans to busy over head flight paths, you wouldn't be leaf the subjects covered. The sun appeared and as the temperature rose 🌹 the beds were cleared. Soon it was thyme to bid our goodbyes. We all agreed that we had done a blooming good job!

Jess, Sue and Sheila joined 3 other volunteers at Spital Cemetery. We selected a grave which had been completely covered by an overgrown bush. All that could be seen when we started was a little urn. What lay behind it? We soon discovered that we had selected a Pyracantha bush, which is horribly spikey. Undeterred, we set to work with loppers and secateurs, with the occasional cry of 'Timber!' and 'Ouch!' Grit and determination finally enabled us to reveal 2 graves, belonging to Edith Guy, and 3 members of the Jeffery Family, most of whom had died in 1937, all within one month of each other. Another fun and productive session

Thursday 6:15/ 6:30pm is GoodGym Windsor Night! 👑🏃‍♂️🏃🏻‍♀️

Tonights community mission was at Spital Cemetery clearing weeds and collecting litter. A first for the Thursday evening session.

Bekah ran to The Binoy for 6:15pm to say “hi” to Jen who was walking and then she ran on to the task to meet the others.

We eventually 🤣 gathered at 6:30pm and the task owner Karen and the local cat showed us the area we we needed to tackle. Got on the classic fm for some calming background tunes.

Our fab GoodGym Team tonight was Gareth (welcome to his first Thursday evening session), Jen, Sue, Mandy , Bekah and Didem.

Gareth and Didem set about doing a quick litter pick on their way to the main area of work.

The weeds had over taken the rose garden of remembrance and with traces of ashes visible we had to be mindful not to disturb these. The weeds had blanketed the whole of the bed and some of the roots were really deep. The thistles had also grown very densely Bekah tried to tackle these but they were a bit to prickly. Hopefully after all our hard week the rose will have some space to thrive and any future scatterings will be much nicer.

Jen volunteered herself for condensing the green waste and then Didem and Jen took the bag down for collection.

After the task we opted for a calming quick yoga session perfect for a cemetery. Not that we were much calmer afterwards as it was just too funny 🤣 Jens classic line “I don’t think I’ve ever done yoga in a graveyard before “🤣

At the end we did the Windsor curtsy and bow 👑 and said our goodbyes.

Thank you all for coming ♥️ and Namaste (nah-mah-stay)

Sue, Margaret, Gareth and Sheila met at Spital Cemetery for one of the regular work parties on a beautiful morning. Maggie joined a couple of other volunteers to help clear the bindweed, creeping buttercup and plantain which were trying to take over the rose bed in the garden of remembrance. Meanwhile Sue and Sheila tackled a massive rose root which had infiltrated a grave over many years, and Gareth took on some mature leylandii branches overshadowing another grave. Conditions were difficult, especially for Gareth working in a confined space, but some dogged determination showed some definite progress. The next workparty will include a Goodgym Windsor community mission on the evening of Thursday 25th July. Sign up here

6 Goodgymmers met at Spital Cemetery armed with loppers, saws and secateurs, ready to do battle with the ivy and bushes which have taken over some of the gravestones. We split into two groups, each taking on a different area. Sue, Matthew ans Scarlett cleared several graves being taken over by hawthorn. What an amazing job they did and they even found a gravestone belonging to Mr Jonathan Found. Rachel, Maggie and Sheila tackled 2 graves hidden behind yew, ivy and some nasty brambles. One gravestone belonged to 8-year old Walter Charles Seaward, who died in 1863. After clearing, these graves, we could see an ivy-covered column rising deep within the inner reaches of the undergrowth. We were able to clear some of the ivy and yew, enough to determine that it is a stone cross, but the rest will have to wait for the next session.

5 Goodgymers met with taskowner Karen and one other volunteer at Spital Cemetery. Sue had already done a recce and identified an area that needed some attention. Some Leylandii trees had totally overgrown some graves, hiding them completely from view. Matthew and Scarlett took on the area that Scarlett had been working on last time, whilst Maggie, Sue and Sheila tackled a different area. It was loppers to the fore, and before long we had cleared huge piles of branches. We uncovered several graves, which hadn't seen the light of day for quite some time. Great work, on such a warm day, and we filled 4 dumpy bags full of branches