4 GoodGymers joined forces this morning at Spital Cemetery in Windsor. Our task was a simple one, weed a long bed, just leaf the roses alone!! As a political discussion threatened to delay the start, Sheila gently coaxed us over to the task location. As the weeds were pulled, the conversation moved from imminent knee operations, to travels plans to busy over head flight paths, you wouldn't be leaf the subjects covered. The sun appeared and as the temperature rose 🌹 the beds were cleared. Soon it was thyme to bid our goodbyes. We all agreed that we had done a blooming good job!

Thursday 6:15/ 6:30pm is GoodGym Windsor Night! 👑🏃‍♂️🏃🏻‍♀️

Tonights community mission was for Windsor and Eton FC CIC.

Some of us met at the task some made their way walking or running from The Binoy.

Huge welcome to Helen for her first GG session ! 💪🏻👑🏃🏻‍♀️👏🏻

We were met by task owner Mark for a run down of the jobs we needed to do tonight which put us in separate areas and split into teams.

Helen and Didem in the dug out scraping the loose paint to prep for painting and sweeping up the debris.

Jen, Sol and Sara sealing knots in the new wooden doors and rubbing down filler to prep for painting.

Sue and Mandy were removing mould from the changing room ceiling to prep for anti mould painting.

We regrouped when all the jobs were done.

We finished with a fun fitness footy sidelines doubles game (well we forgot which pair we were in but still ) and the match of the day soundtrack was playing to keep us in the football spirit. We did dribbling, skipping, side gallops and lunges followed by jumping jacks until the tune ended! Well done team you smashed it!

Windsor curtsy and bow then some of us made our way home together or back to the Binoy.

Jen’s challenge of this report for a bonus point for the first person that spots and names the hidden bird in the photos.

Thank you to Didem and Jen for helping with the photos and everyone all for coming it was a fun evening ! 👑🏃🏽‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Jess, Sue and Sheila joined 3 other volunteers at Spital Cemetery. We selected a grave which had been completely covered by an overgrown bush. All that could be seen when we started was a little urn. What lay behind it? We soon discovered that we had selected a Pyracantha bush, which is horribly spikey. Undeterred, we set to work with loppers and secateurs, with the occasional cry of 'Timber!' and 'Ouch!' Grit and determination finally enabled us to reveal 2 graves, belonging to Edith Guy, and 3 members of the Jeffery Family, most of whom had died in 1937, all within one month of each other. Another fun and productive session

Nicola, Jen and Sue joined me this evening for GoodGym's second session helping at Alexander First School. Although this was GoodGym's second visit, it was my first and I was really impressed with the outdoor space - a 5 year old's/GoodGymer's paradise!

We arrived to rumbles of thunder and a warm welcome from rain-soaked task owner Mark, who helped us gather tools and showed us what needed doing.

Nicola and I jumped at the chance to paint some pallet fencing and Sue and Jen opted to cut back an overenthusiastic hedge.

While we worked we chatted about everything from inspirational Olympic performances to rocking horses and Slough GoodGym's surprise birthday party. As we chatted, stresses of the work/childcare day melted away, the thunderstorm cleared and we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Thursday 6:15/ 6:30pm is GoodGym Windsor Night! 👑🏃‍♂️🏃🏻‍♀️

Tonights community mission was at Spital Cemetery clearing weeds and collecting litter. A first for the Thursday evening session.

Bekah ran to The Binoy for 6:15pm to say “hi” to Jen who was walking and then she ran on to the task to meet the others.

We eventually 🤣 gathered at 6:30pm and the task owner Karen and the local cat showed us the area we we needed to tackle. Got on the classic fm for some calming background tunes.

Our fab GoodGym Team tonight was Gareth (welcome to his first Thursday evening session), Jen, Sue, Mandy , Bekah and Didem.

Gareth and Didem set about doing a quick litter pick on their way to the main area of work.

The weeds had over taken the rose garden of remembrance and with traces of ashes visible we had to be mindful not to disturb these. The weeds had blanketed the whole of the bed and some of the roots were really deep. The thistles had also grown very densely Bekah tried to tackle these but they were a bit to prickly. Hopefully after all our hard week the rose will have some space to thrive and any future scatterings will be much nicer.

Jen volunteered herself for condensing the green waste and then Didem and Jen took the bag down for collection.

After the task we opted for a calming quick yoga session perfect for a cemetery. Not that we were much calmer afterwards as it was just too funny 🤣 Jens classic line “I don’t think I’ve ever done yoga in a graveyard before “🤣

At the end we did the Windsor curtsy and bow 👑 and said our goodbyes.

Thank you all for coming ♥️ and Namaste (nah-mah-stay)

Aome of Goodgymers met at the school and some walked from the meeting point. It was a sunny afternoon; great for walking and enjoying summer weather. She school was located on lovely grounds with a forest on the side and it had lots of green area.

We had several jobs to choose from - painting gates, painting outside playroom sets, clearing brambles or pruning bushes around the play area the wood. My first impression was that it looked like a jungle for children - a great place for kids to get mucky and enjoy outdoors.

A herd of cows came to visit us from the woods area. It turned out they had the right to roam all that area. We saw many this summer's calves and cows. They all looked at us as investigating who we were. We did the same in reverse. Then we got back to out tasks - we better got mooo-ving!

It seemed like we had managed to complete quite a lot in no time at all! That colour "Medium Oak" looked so good on the gates and furniture sets.

We returned across the meadow back to the school. The teacher had prepared some juices, water and biscuits for us, which was a lovely touch. We managed to do the flag quiz while enjoying snacks and drinks.

We left the task with a good feeling that we had helped to improve the spacious outdoor area. And we made plans to attend the same session in September. Happy summer day!