7 Goodgymmers met at the Mencap Society hub in Highview House.

Colin, our task owner, and hardworking volunteer at Mencap showed us the front garden which needed tidying up. There were trees to trim, shrubs to shear, weeds to wrangle and leaves to sweep, plenty to keep us busy!

Tony set to work tackling the bigger trees and brambles, while Ben took charge of sweeping the leaves from the paths. Viv took aim at the front of the garden cutting back the overhanging plants. Didem, Anna and Anne-Laure and Jess set to work on the weeds, all not entirely sure what should be pulled out!

In just 30 minutes the team had made a huge difference to the area and the change was clear to see. The rest of the time was then spent tidying up the clippings and getting more of the pesky weeds out! Two full green bins later the team had done a superb job.

Colin invited us in for tea and cake and to see the members who were their for their Wednesday night club. It is such a lifeline to many people in the community and it was great to be able to help them.

Laura and Sheila welcomed Didem to her first mission at Braywick Plant Nursery on a chilly morning. Our warm-up task was to repot some Festuca grasses into larger pots, to allow them to continue to grow over the winter. We then moved on to removing any dead stems and leaves from the Pelargonium and Impatiens plants which are over-wintering in the glasshouse. One large pot of trimmings and a few cold toes later, we made our way home

Jen walked to our meeting point from The Binoy to make inroads into her 10,000 daily steps. Didem and Helen soon arrived so we looked at the map, shared out the leaflets and helped ourselves to some of the chocolates (Cadbury Heroes) that the task owner kindly gave us as a Thank You.

We started out as 'Absolute Beginners' as we tried to plot a logical route through the maze of the estate.

We soon found our rhythym though and didnt feel 'Under Pressure' at all. Before long it was 7.30pm and time to call it a night so we were 'Dancing In The Streets' back to the car park.

We particularly enjoyed one street that had its Halloween decorations out and provided a great backdrop for group selfie.

Jen's step count was around 9,000 so she gladly accepted a lift back almost to her car so she could just top them up with a short walk. (Didem, Helen - I slightly surpassed 10,000 by the time I reached home).