Sol, Sheila and Angela met the community allotment on a sunny Friday afternoon.

The task was to prepare empty vegetable beds for the winter break. Angela and Sheila started weeding, Sol made several wheelbarrow rides to bring manure to the beds. The last part was to cover them with plastic sheets to suppress weeds over the winter months.

The hour passed quickly while catching up summer trips and upcoming events. We escaped the rain and that was a positive start to the weekend!

Tonight’s GoodGym mission in Maidenhead was a sandy one! While beach cleans aren’t exactly common around here, this one came with a twist—we weren’t cleaning the beach, we were removing it.

A couple of months ago, we helped create the pop-up beach for Norden Farm’s summer festivities. But with autumn creeping in and flip-flops firmly back in storage, it was time to bid farewell to the sandpit!

Shifting 13 tonnes of sand is no small feat—and definitely tougher than laying it out in the first place! But the GoodGym crew rose to the challenge. With teamwork, grit, and sandy socks, we helped the Norden Farm staff make a serious dent in the dunes. There’s still a bit left to tackle, but the bulk of the beach has officially been packed away.

Angela, Rosie and Sheila welcomed Claire back to her first Goodgym mission for a while. It was great to see you back! Today's task was to take down the bean plants and supports. We cut the plants near the base, leaving the roots in the ground to continue fixing nitrogen in the soil. We unwound the plants from the supports and then untied and gathered the canes together and stored them away for use next year. The plants went on the compost heap. Rosie and Angela picked the Dutch drying beans. The beds are now ready for some manure and putting to bed for the winter - maybe next week's task