Doing the planks (and lots more!)

Last night we returned to Braywick Heath Nurseries to shifts lots more stuff and make some top notch before and after photos. It was great to welcome Katie to her first big Wednesday evening session, and to see everyone else's lovely faces too.

A very, very special mention to Jenni, who was joining us for her 501st good deed, having celebrated her big 500 with Ealing last month. Jenni was one of the first GoodGymers I ever met (on a Foodbank mission in Acton before GoodGym Windsor & Maidenhead even existed) and she came to our launch. As a Taskforce member and Run Leader, she has not only done heaps of good deeds herself, but she has also helped lots of other people to do good things. She has moved a bit closer to us, so we hope to see lots more of her. Also, well done Anna, for apparently recruiting Jenni in the first place!

The right Kit for the job

Richt, back to reporting on the evening's events: we met at the task to make the most of the daylight, and task owner Kit briefed us on everything that needed shifting.

A hop, skip and a dump

First up was to shift a big pile of old planks into the skip. Taking care of the plentiful rusty nails, Jenni, Garry, Rachel, Diya, Anna and I hopped to it. No one wants to hold a plank for too long, so we quickly (but neatly) dumped everything into the skip.

Pallet cleansers

Meanwhile, Kanika, Gillian, Katie and Emily got stuck into another big job - shifting stacks of heavy pallets through a polytunnel and stacking them on the other side of the site. As the plank crew ran out of planks, we joined the pallet crew and we made the most of our return journeys to shift more scrap wood and chicken wire back to the skip.

Heavy sleepers

We were pretty tired by this point, so it was time for a big sleep(er...or eight)! Garry did an amazing job shifting these huge pieces of wood (and their resident spiders) onto a trolley and through the polytunnel. I helped until I was sacked and replaced by Anna, who did not sleep(er) on the job.

Heavy metal

Last on the to do list was to shift a pile of old polytunnel roof poles across the site, ready to be sold for scrap metal. In this task we showed both strength and balance, just like all good pole dancers, and then we stripped off to show off our...

...GOODGYM T-SHIRTS (of course!) in our final group photos. It was an excellent workout and we made a huge difference. Kit was really grateful for everyone's hard work.

A flying finish

Some of the group then had to fly, so set off for home. Kudos to Kanika and Diya, who were on their bikes. Well done to Gillian and Emily, who joined me for a 2.5km lap of the Nature Reserve. It was a joy except for all the pesky flies!