Shelia and Jess had a lovely relaxed afternoon helping Formosa Fest in Cookham with marshaling their parking. They had a list of cars who had pre-paid for parking and instructions on where to send those who hadn't! If they weren't on the list....they weren't getting through!!

They also had to help coordinate cars out of the car park, as the road was thin with limited passing places which required walkie talkies and describing cars!! They even had to ask the police to wait!! 🤭

After the shift they both went down to the Festival to have a look around. It was great to have a catch up and enjoy the sunshine!

The tasks at today's session at Nature's Haven had last minute changes due to a sudden downpour. We needed to make jam pot covers for the display at the RHS show. A quick dash up the hill enabled me to collect pinking shears, a compass and a pen in order to carry out the task. We set up a production line with other volunteers - making circles on the gingham fabric and cutting them out At the end we had 40 jam jar covers, ready to be used

Jess and Sheila helped out at the Baby Bank at our regular Friday morning session The first task was to check over some clothes which had been checked once by a corporate team, but we found quite a few items which were not up to scratch or were in the wrong size pile. Those that passed could then be put in the boxes ready for selection for handing out to families. We were then asked to put together some referrals which had come in. This involved putting together a full set of clothes for specific families, so we were pleased that we had already checked some of these items. A satisfying morning's work and it was great to catch up with Jess

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

Tonight we were helping Braywood School digging a child safe pond 🐸 and planting a willow tree.

Jen and Mandy met at the Greene Oak pub for a social drink … oops no I mean walk/run to the task. While others Didem, Caroline, Angela and Sue met us at the school. Where we were met by the task owner Head Teacher Susan and TA Julie (of whom we may have a new recruit 🙏🏻 ).

Welcome to Angela as it was her first Thursday evening session with Windsor 👑🏃‍♂️🏃🏻‍♀️ 👏🏻 but she’s a GG regular with lots of other good deeds under her belt.

Congratulations to Sue for her 10th official Goodgym session although I know she does much more than she lets on… and she is our own little mobile tool station … thank you Sue ♥️

On to the task …. We love a challenge and it didn’t take long for us to get started.

How many GoodGymers does it take to dig a pond? Not that many 💪🏻

Fantastic team effort pond-ering where we start, measuring up, digging, levelling, checking, then a bit more digging (avoiding the surprise pipe we unearthed 😬) all on repeat until it was just right.

Some redistributed in many different styles (using pits, bags, dragging or shuttle running lumps) all the excess soil away to other planters of under hedgerow to ensure the great quality soil was put to good use.

Once the hole was dug, a layer of sand was spread to ensure the pond was stable. We then will filled round the edges to make it totally secure and added the metal safety grill cover.

In the midst of all that a cute little Willow tree was planted in the corner by Mandy so as the pond gets establish the tree will bring a place for more wildlife for the children to learn about.

After the task in true GoodGym style we had a cheeky play in the playground and on the trim trail.

Lovely evening and lots of fitness with the birds singing and truly worthwhile task.

We said our goodbyes and did the Windsor curtsy and made our way home.

As always thank you all for coming 👑👏🏻👏🏻 and to Bekah as even though not at the task she’s helping with the socials ♥️

This evening's task was was a first for us - Himalayan Balsam bashing at Ockwells!

Himalayan Balsam is an invasive species, which threatens native biodiversity if allowed to spread, so task owner Ranger Tom asked for our help to stop it from going to seed and smothering the native flora mix at beautiful Ockwells.

Tom told me we would be going to what3words location ///police.hurt.dozen, which sounded a bit ominous. Add to that the planned 'bashing', and promised attacks from stinging insects and pollen and I worried we were in for a violent and painful evening.

The reality couldn't have been more of a contrast. We had a lovely peaceful walk through the park; ///police.hurt.dozen turned out to be a pretty, sun-kissed spot, not far from a stream and surrounded by trees and birdsong; most of the insects we met were gorgeous blue dragonflies, and we didn't even need to bash anything: the roots of the offending plants were very happy to come up with no more than a gentle tug.

We quickly amassed huge piles of pulled up plants, creating our very own Himalayan (Balsam) mountain range!

Bar the odd nettle sting (especially the one on Anne-Laure's face, which led her to declare that she was growing a face on her face!), it was the perfect evening to refresh and soothe body and mind.

Can't wait for more of the same at Battlemead Common at next Wednesday's Group Run/Walk!

Friday shift at FoodShare saw me assigned to the Till. This was one job I had not done, although I had shadowed someone month's ago to learn.

A quick overview by the Shop manager, a deep breath and I was sat at the table, taking payments. And just like that, a new skill had been unlocked 🗝️ (Good thing I had remembered to carry my reading glasses this time!)