The evening session at the Riverside Family Hub was well attended by many GoodGymers. It gave an opportunity to catch up on summer stories and share the travel memories.

Thank you Gillian for leading the task.

The aim of the session was to clear weeds and debris from the playground, car park and the pebbled area. The team soon got stuck into the task by pulling up the giant web of bindweed. It causes a lot of surprised faces at the tenacity of weedy plans to invade the environment.

Team soon split up to clean up different areas of the community centre. Everyone found something to do and also finding a time to have friendly chats and hugs. The most muddy task was to pull out the soil from the drain holes. Then came the squeeky sound from Amy who had pulled a toad out out of the drain. Nicola was brave enough to pick up the toad and transfer it to the pond in the garden corner. Sol was running behind to capture the moment.

Light was soon fading and the team finished up with the tidying tasks. We did felt that the summer is out and September is here bring autumn feeling. Everyone gathered in the play area to celebrate Sol's 100th good deed! Sheila had kindly baked an apple cake (which was so delicious and similar to Latvian apple cake). Great effort. Heartfelt thank you from everyone.

The hilight of the evening was the delivery of Amy's poem called "Sol Sol Sol". The verses were absolutely genius rhyming with elegantly. The delivery of the poem was magnificient causing everyone to laugh and waiting what the next verse will bring out. We heard about Sol and sunshine, about Soil and earth, about cents and Peru currency, about soul and friendships.

I'm so proud to be part of the Goodgym team! Love you all!

Bramble clearing and hole-digging were not even a challenge for this group of hardy GoodGymmers!

Runners, walkers, cyclists and four-wheeled, we came in all shapes and forms to the Maidenhead Community Allotment.

While Sol and Tony dug a big hole for the planting the big fig tree, all the others set upon the brambles around the new fruit trees. Once cleared, everybody joined the diggers - some to help move the tree into the hole and others to ensure the quality of the planting.

We nearly had a moment of Jen-tree-fication when Jen jumped in the hole to push down the tub meant to hold the tree. But she was safely removed before the tree was successfully planted.

A special shout out to Viv on racing to 10 deeds already in no time!

Rosie, Anne-Laure and Sheila helped out at Maidenhead Festival, assisting with escorting cars and vans across the Festival site. Not an easy task as we had to look out for loose dogs, children, frisbees, footballs and anything else you can think of. Rosie had the honour (responsibility?) of escorting the Police van off site. All our charges were delivered safely to the exit, and we were pleased that we were able to help out at this incredible event

This evening's task was was a first for us - Himalayan Balsam bashing at Ockwells!

Himalayan Balsam is an invasive species, which threatens native biodiversity if allowed to spread, so task owner Ranger Tom asked for our help to stop it from going to seed and smothering the native flora mix at beautiful Ockwells.

Tom told me we would be going to what3words location ///police.hurt.dozen, which sounded a bit ominous. Add to that the planned 'bashing', and promised attacks from stinging insects and pollen and I worried we were in for a violent and painful evening.

The reality couldn't have been more of a contrast. We had a lovely peaceful walk through the park; ///police.hurt.dozen turned out to be a pretty, sun-kissed spot, not far from a stream and surrounded by trees and birdsong; most of the insects we met were gorgeous blue dragonflies, and we didn't even need to bash anything: the roots of the offending plants were very happy to come up with no more than a gentle tug.

We quickly amassed huge piles of pulled up plants, creating our very own Himalayan (Balsam) mountain range!

Bar the odd nettle sting (especially the one on Anne-Laure's face, which led her to declare that she was growing a face on her face!), it was the perfect evening to refresh and soothe body and mind.

Can't wait for more of the same at Battlemead Common at next Wednesday's Group Run/Walk!