On Sunday, we went to Reading Bike Hub's soon-to-be location on King's Road, in the very long vacant Mothercare shop! They will be having their grand opening on 7th September and their aim is to make cycling more accessible in Reading! They will have bikes to buy and borrow, trailer bikes to try and our friends from Repair Cafe will be there to show poeple how to fix bikes, and Library of Things will have items to borrow too. What a great community hub!

With lots of work already been put in to get the space ready by the core volunteering team, Kat, Simon and Stuart, the space is already shaping up well!

Our tasks for the session included moving over 50 bikes from the shop floor, round the side of the shop and through the loading bay to be stored and checked over for repairs. It was great fun taking them for a test ride and definitely a good circuits workout to get them all in place! The basement will eventually be used as a learn to cycle route too - amazing!

Back at the shop front, after years of sticky vinyl on the windows, there was plenty of elbow grease needed to get the last of the sticky off and make it shine!

We couldn't leave without trialling the mini kids bikes, to test them, of course! They are planning to have a rental scheme for children's bikes to size up when your child outgrows their bike, what a great idea!

With news coming in that there had been damage to the community garden at the Weller Centre over the weekend, we were prepared for the worst... but thankfully, while there had been some of the fruit and veg damaged, overall the garden was OK!

There was still plenty for us to do, and we all set to work. Holly went on the hunt for litter, Chris got to work shredding the branches that had been cut down by other volunteers, Jenni started to move the compost piles and Shirley emptied the shed to get it reorganised, which turned out to be a big job!

With all the litter gathered, and the muscles aching from soil turning, Holly and Jenni helped Shirley (along with Katie and Penny!) get everything sorted to go back into the shed. Organised, stacked and much easier to get to!

Chris' shredding job had been complete too and there was then even space in the shed for the tool - borrowed from the excellent 'Library of Things' - to be tucked away too. Job done!

We'll be back at the Community Garden again in a few weeks for more!

This evening we were joined by Charlie for her first GoodGym session, and she'd even run from home to join us! Superstar! Nick had come with his own litter picker as well, which meant we could all get stuck in.

And we certainly had a lot to do! On our last visit to the Kennet, we went for a lovely long stroll and collected very little, but this week, there was loads! We only made it a few hundred metres down the path before having to drop off two full bags and get started on some more!

Nick made the interesting discovery of several parking tickets... hopefully no extra fines going to anyone! A shame they weren't giving out fines for litter though, with 8 bags full we decided to call it a night and head our separate ways for the night.

Chris and Jenni went to Reading Rugby club to help with some of their club house renovation. Now the roof has been finished there's plenty to do inside so they can reach the try line before the new season starts!

We joined the scrum of volunteers who were there for the day. During the morning we repainted a corridor and the benches in one of the changing rooms while we were there. It made big difference in a small amount of time!

We might be back again in the coming weeks as they progress with the work.

Three GoodGymers and one enthusiastic new recruit (not officially GoodGym yet but we’re working on it!) rolled up their sleeves to get stuck into some garden maintenance at the Weller Centre.

The lawnmower may have been out of action, but that didn't slow us down. Armed with determination (and a strimmer), we cut back overgrown grass, chopped stubborn twigs prepping them for the shredder, and cleared a good amount of litter from the area. A surprise highlight was the stunning sunflowers standing tall, a cheerful reminder of what a bit of care and attention can do. lovely gardens and we can't wait to go back.