We descended in All Saints like a dusting SWAT team according to one of the church wardens. Arriving at 2pm we had just an hour and a half to sweep the hall and get the tables and chairs out and take down flags left over from a previous celebration. And then it was on to cleaning, dusting and sweeping the main church. And proving that GoodGymers don't mess about we had all the jobs on the list ticked off in record time. The church was transformed and ready for Fr David's farewell service and celebration. It was lovely to catch up with Pam (one of our GoodGym tribe who has moved away) and to see GoodGym friends Richard from Club 61, Rev Grace from Hockwell Community, Sanjeev from the Gurudwara who all commented on how helpful Goodgym has been to them. So well done to the team today, but to all of the Luton Goodgymers who gave helped in so many projects across the town.

I’m really happy to be part of this volunteering activity. I truly love helping others and giving back to the community — it comes straight from my heart. ❤️ It was an amazing experience that made me feel proud to contribute and meet such kind and friendly people. I also had the chance to practice my English while talking with others, which made the day even more enjoyable and meaningful. I’m looking forward to joining more volunteering missions with GoodGym soon!

In conjunction with a long term restoration plan by the Council's Parks team, the Luton and Dunstable Conservation volunteer team, and the Friends of Dallow Downs, the mission in the middle of our run this week was targeting litter in a neglected area of the Dallow Downs.

Previous conservation activity to clear the scrub in the wooded areas revealed a lot of litter in the undergrowth, we got in there supported by Kevin from ABCD-in-Luton with the equipment and foraged 16 bags of litter from amongst the trees. Also dragged out was some laminate flooring, several wooden pallets, a drawer and a traffic cone.

On our return journey we stopped by Brantwood park for a quick blast of sprint intervals to really stretch the legs before calling it a night.

This evening we served 35 guests plus takeaways . It was great team work and effort from everyone as always- food collection team, cooking team, pot washer, hosting team , host and helpers/project leaders ❤️ We had some newbies too 🍁🍂 Lots of bananas 🍌 from surplus have been used for tonight’s yummy dessert.

Thank you everyone for making people around happy 😊

On today’s menu was: Starter 🍅 tomato and split pea soup Main Vegetable chilli , potato wedges & cream cheese dip Dessert Banana 🍌 in caramel sauce with cake and custard

Marshalling the Love Luton Run Fest was our third and final Run Fest volunteering session, after delivering road closure notices and packing the volunteer bags.

We were stationed at a point where we got to see all the fresh faced runners heading out and the sweaty ones coming back in again so double chance to cheer people along! DJ Duncan brought the music and we all joined in with the spectators to encourage the runner and give an extra big cheer to some of the friendly faces we've encountered through GoodGym!

We were enlisted this morning to help with the preparations for tomorrow's Love Luton Run Fest. So our little team of 5 goodgymers assembled at the Town Hall ready to create a production line to get the volunteer bags filled with goodies ready for tomorrow. There was a special welcome for Nooh as it was his first time at a GoodGYm task - and he made an excellent contribution to the team. It didn't take us long to get 120 draw string bags filled with lanyards, safety information, pin badges, water, plastic clappers, snacks, bananas and a cup for hot drinks. Duncan and Abdulrahman did a final count to check we had enough before we got them boxed up ready for tomorrow's event.