Wed 20th Jul 2022 at 6:45pm
Windsor and Maidenhead Report written by Amy L (she/her)
What a relief to be rained on this evening after the oppressive heat of the last couple of days! And what a joy to be out getting fit and doing good with a great bunch of people.
We met under the shelter of an obliging tree in Boyn Grove Park, welcomed everyone and kicked off with a discussion about whether we should head straight to the task or have a play in the rain in the park first. Playing in the rain won of course, so we warmed up our legs with some slightly silly drills and then went for a lap of the park. Well done to everyone for powering up the big hill!
We then walked together the short hop to All Saints Junior School, where a blue corridor was awaiting its first coat of white paint. We were welcomed by task owner Carl, he showed us which bits to paint and which bits to leave and equipped us with plenty of brushes and rollers. Then we set to work. After about an hour we were proud to have covered almost the entire space - more than we imagined we would manage on arrival. There had also been lots of laughter and happy chatter, some miaowing, some excellent use of tall people and ladders to for the high bits, and we even washed a wall!
We then headed out into the (now even heavier) rain for a quick fitness session involving resistance bands, penguins, burpees, and a three-legged race. Such fun!
Thanks to all who came along and well done on a great session! If you're up for helping with coat 2 on Monday evening, click here for more details and to sign up.
Wed 22nd Jun 2022 at 6:45pm
Windsor and Maidenhead Report written by Amy L (she/her)
Well done to the 9 GoodGymers who joined me on this beautifully sunny evening for our group run and walk to the SSSI on grazing land near Bray Lake. It was particularly great to see Marli and Lena return for their second good deeds and to welcome back Georgeta from her travels. Kudos to Anita for walking nearly 4km to the start location and three cheers for Anna, who came for the first time in a few weeks despite tired legs following running an epic 35 miles at Endure24 on the weekend.
We had the full range of GoodGym's 'run, walk, cycle' mantra represented on our 2km route out this evening. Thanks to Anita and Rachel, who led the walkers. I led the runners and enjoyed chatting to Lena, Gillian, Anna and Georgeta along the way. Meanwhile Diya and Kanika were on their bikes doing an awesome job as a cross between cheerleaders and sheep dogs, cycling back and forth along the route to make sure we were all going the right way and still smiling.
On arrival at the the task location, we took in the minty aroma of the rare Pennyroyal plant we had come to help conserve, greeted the very vocal 'bouncer' cow and nearly persuaded Anita to climb over the gate before it was opened by super strong Kanika. Then we met task owner Kristina, who was very pleased to have some company having worked hard on the task solo for much of the afternoon.
We had two tasks to tackle this evening, so we divided roughly into two teams. Anna, Rachel, Diya, and Georgeta tackled mulch removal (our fourth session on this task), piling previously cut brambles into a hippo bag and ferrying them to a bigger mulch heap in the adjacent field. Lena, Marli, Gillian and I focused on pulling up Ragwort, which threatens to crowd out the Pennyroyal if left to spread. Kanika and Anita helped on both tasks.
Both jobs gave us a decent work out and a good sense of job satisfaction. After an hour we had significantly reduced the mulch heap, significantly increased the Ragwort heap, enjoyed more chatting, and soaked up lots of fresh air and vitamin D - great work team!
Kanika and Diya then headed for home on their bikes, while Anita, Rachel, Marli and Lena walked the same route back to Bray. The runners took a slightly longer route back via the Thames path, which was looking gorgeous in the midsummer evening light. Thanks to Gillian for showing us a new route so we didn't need to re-trace our steps.
Next week we are off to Cookham Dean to dismantle a shed. Can't wait! Click here to sign up...
Wednesday 15th June 2022
Marli has done their first good deed with GoodGym.
Marli is a now a fully fledged GoodGym runner. They've just run to do good for the first time. They are out there making amazing things happen and getting fit at the same time.
Wed 15th Jun 2022 at 6:45pm
Windsor and Maidenhead Report written by Amy L (she/her)
Well done to everyone who came along on this evening's group run, and a very warm (26°C according to BBC weather!) welcome to Lena, Marli and Kim, who joined us for their first GoodGym good deeds. And what a lovely evening to be out!
We started with a sociable run and walk around the Boyn Hill area, with options to run up and down four steep hills along the way. Kudos to Juli and Gemma for bagging all four. Then we headed to Boyne Hill School to meet task owner Ian and tackle various tasks in the playground.
Priority number 1 was a sandpit with a rotten bottom. A fence panel (we think) had been used as the floor but years of play had taken its toll and the wood had softened and splintered, making the sand unsafe. Kim, Gemma, Amy and Juli took on the job of digging out the rotten bottom and sieving the sand to remove the splinters. It might sound a-fence-sieve but it was incredibly satisfying and they made great progress. You might even say they were sieving the dream!
Meanwhile Lena and Marli did a fantastic job of clearing a big tub-full of weeds from the reception and pre-school playgrounds, before joining the sand team to help with the sieving. A sand-ing ovation for you two!
On the far side of the playground, Sophie, Gillian, Nicola and Kanika were equally busy with their job of sticking the leaves back on the trees. You might say it took a lot of bottle for the school to ask us to do this, and you would be right! In fact it probably took around 500 bottles, as these leaves were made of milk bottle caps, to top off the trees painted on the school wall. Well done to the tree team for finishing two out of the three trees. We hope to return to complete tree number three soon.
We finished at the school with a team photo and Ian said 'I would tell you all to smile, but you haven't stopped smiling all evening.' So true! A big thank you to Ian for welcoming us and giving us such enjoyable tasks.
We ended the session with a short walk back to our start location, a round of stretches and much excitement about the upcoming Endure24 festival, which lots of GoodGymers are preparing for this weekend. Good luck team!
Hope to see you all again next week. It's going to be Bray-lliant...! Click here for more details and to sign up.