We had a great turnout this week with a mixture of walkers and runners so we sent the walkers off early for a head start while the runners got warmed up to take on the evenings uphill struggle to our task.

We were all heading to the Green House community hub where progress on the new cafe space was coming along well. The main cafe space had had one coat but needed another coat and some cutting in. With red, white and green walls to paint we split into three colour coded teams and got going.

The red and green areas being smaller we managed to get finished and left them looking properly smart. The white area was too big for us on this occasion but we got it half done so there's not too much left for their weekend volunteers to work on.

Before we could leave we had to take a moment to celebrate birthday girl Mayra, so with the help of Mr Kipling we enjoyed a round of cake and sung happy birthday!

Tonight at Foodcycle, GoodGym Luton was represented very well . 2 kitchen staff and 4 host helped the wider team serve 46 meals and 2 take aways. The menu this evening was a beautiful mixed salad 🥗 and baked curried chickpeas on toast for starter, an amazing cheesey vegetable pasta bake and dessert was malt loaf with fruit salad. It was well received by he guests and everyone left full and grateful. Just before service, the whole team stopped to sing happy birthday to our very own Mayra who celebrates tomorrow.
It was an amazing effort by all of the team, well done everyone.

I have no doubt that an organization like this in Luton will help a lot of vulnerable people and those who are homeless with food. Although I have been living in Luton for more than two years and have not had the opportunity to volunteer until last year with Good Gym, I am sure that the Good Gym team is great and kind people. However, this is the first time I have had the opportunity to volunteer with FOOD CYCLE, so my feelings were wonderful, amazing, gorgeous, magnificent, fabulous, terrific, fantastic. Though this opportunity was late, let me answer this question: why do I want to be a volunteer? I am a frank and straightforward man, so I want to make new friends, share ideas, help poor people, be active, support my community, enhance my skills, strengthen my CV, and improve my mental health.

Tonight brought about the last cooking session for the Roma trust and the friends of the temple at the Shri Guru Ravidass Sangat Gudwara in town. We at Luton Goodgym have supported for 12 sessions which has helped the temple deliver a project that has brought together communities that otherwise may not cross paths and all through sharing the delights of Indian cooking. As this was the last session, our team turned out 11 volunteers to help with, prep, cooking and tidying up afterwards, as well as chatting and continuing to forge relationships with everyone on the room. 5 of us were a little late to the task as we were finishing up at another volunteerinng session in the town, but that didn't hold back the other 6 from getting stuck in. Making chapatis and putting all the ingredients together to make the tarka for the daal. Everyone took their turn tonight and the atmosphere was electric. The chai was flowing and the conversation was fantastic. Everyone had a great time this evening and we look forward to supporting the temple in the future as they always make us feel so welcome. Well done everyone and thanks for continuing to show what a fantastic bunch you all are.

Well GoodGym were out in force this afternoon and evening for FoodCycle, with two of our newer GoodGymers making their debut at this project.

Gill arrived early as she was once again co-ordinating the cooking team and needed to unlock the church and do the kitchen checks. Joined by a couple of our regular FoodCycle cooking volunteers they were rather limited by the lack of good fresh ingredients but soon decided on a healthy menu for tonight's meal. As the prep got underway Martin and Mayra completed the cooking team and we were off to a great start. Martin and Harrison undertook to make tray loads of potato wedges, which would be topped of with cheese towards the end. Gill started working on an oaty apple bake for pudding while Mayra supported Caron in making a delicious vegetarian chilli packed full of kidney beans, shallots, peppers, tomatoes and much more beside. We're a pretty versatile team, so as one lot of prep was completed, we would turn our hand to the next job: Martin and Harrison helped with prepping peppers and salad stuff and keeping a check on the washing up; and Mayra helped preparing the rest of the salad while Gill got started on caramelising bananas and sorting out some custard. At the end of two hours we were ready to serve up a veritable feast to our 46 guests.

Our Menu

Starter: chopped salad with garlic croutons

Main: Vegetable chilli with cheesy wedges and a side salad

Dessert: Oaty apple bake with caramelised bananas and custard.

We had a good hosting team who were joined by Derrick (an old hand, it being his second time at FoodCycle) who had brought Lukyamuzi and Joseph with him to experience their first evening at foodCycle. They did an excellent job of serving the food to the guests and cleaning up the hall and kitchen afterwards alongside the other hostibng volunteers. All were agreed that goodGym were absolutely vital in ensuring a successful meal was enjoyed by all.

Turn out for tonights task at the Shri Guru Ravidass Sangat Gudwara was great as 11 Luton goodgymers came to the penultimate cooking class as part of the temples near neighbours project, helping to integrate communities. The whole team got stuck in with cooking, washing pots and chatting to the guests from the Roma trust and the Irish forum. Mayra was especially pleased tonight as she got to wear her Red GoodGym shirt for the first time, Adrian also looked splendid as he wore his for the first time too. We look forward to seeing you guys out in those shirts again soon. After helping the aunties cook up some delicious treats, Sanjeev from the temple thanked everyone for their support over the 12 sessions and presented a cooking book with all the recipes we've helped to cook. I really feel like our support with this project has made a difference and I appreciate the opportunity afforded to us to be able to help. Well done team. you were great tonight

We had a great evening supporting the Mear Neighbours project at the Shri Guru Ravidass Sangat Gudwara on Thursday evening. 6 incredibly focused members of the Goodgym Luton team helped to host the event where the temple welcomed members if the Roma trust and Friends of the temple. The team helped to prep, cook and clear down on the night and were able to share the delicious food that was prepared as part of the project. We had great fun and look forward to our next session. Well done team

Tonight 6 Goodgymers got stuck in at the temple cooking classes. Supporting the evening event, put on for the Friends of the temple and the Roma Trust. Adrian took up the rolling pin and headed up the chapati production line. Lukyamuzi joined the team for his first experience at the temple and got stuck in buttering chapatis. Musa and Derrick were flipping the breads and making sure they were cooked before passing them down the line. The meal being prepared was Sweet pepper curry 🍛.
Gill, mayra and myself joined a little into the session as we'd been at another task, but we all got stuck in with the cooking and serving of the food. Everyone enjoyed the evening and we look forward to supporting again.