Last night’s GoodGym Nottingham task was meant to see us helping at the Meadows Foodbank. However, for the second week running, a last-minute change of plan was needed, this time due to illness (get well soon Mark!).

Luckily, Leah had a stash of purple bags and gloves in her car, so not to be defeated again, we quickly switched gears and turned our attention to litter picking around the local area. As there were so many of us, we split into two groups and collectively managed to fill 4 bags of litter which had been lurking amongst the fallen leaves – impressive given how clean and tidy the area actually looked and that some of us were wheeling bikes around whilst picking!

It may not have been the task we originally planned, but we still got out, got moving and made a difference. Thanks to everyone who came for being so adaptable, and we will hopefully reschedule our visit to the Foodbank for a future week.

A big welcome to Georgie who joined us for the first time!

Next week we will be at the Brandon Lawerence Sports Centre – sign up here.

On a dark, damp night it was good to be inside the Sherwood Community Centre.

Laid out before us were a plethora of brushes, rollers, trays and paint and we rolled up our sleeves in true GoodGym fashion.

We split in to two teams with Matt, Charlie, Dayna and Peter on one side and Walter, Khiltee, Florence and first timer Martin on the other.

We were so efficient that there was even time for Charlie and Matt to vacuum, sweep and mop some floors and for Peter to make a start on cleaning the brushes, trays and rollers.

Welcome aboard Martin, we hope you enjoyed your first task with and hopefully see you again soon.

...and did we need them!

We were back at Sherwood Methodist Church for some follow up gardening maintenance as, despite the summer heatwave, things have just kept on growing!

Splitting in to two groups, Matt and Charlie channeled their inner lumberjack/tree surgeon and got stuck into some serious heavy duty pruning (not enough wheelie bins to contain their efforts!

Meanwhile, Rachel, Rachel, Leah, Florence and Peter (ably assisted by Peter's wife Jane) were clambering among the shrubs (and trying avoid the spiky plant things) to cut down the tall labernums and, yes, the spiky plant, so the church sign was visible again. With a lot of tamping down two wheelie bins were filled to the brim - how we got so much shrubbery in them is a mystery!

Thanks as always to Janice and Tony from the church for organising us so efficiently - we'll happily come back whenever you’ll have us!

Sherwood Community Centre invited us back for another evening of fun and varied tasks.

First up was some sweeping and leaf gathering. The Centre's café can't have dogs inside, but being on a popular dog-walking route, this is losing possible customers. However, there's a bit of space between the building and the car park that could be kitted out with some patio furniture for those who need or prefer to sit outside. We cleared a load of weeds that were growing through the gravel and swept up as many of the leaves as we could to make the space more welcoming.

Next, it was all hands on deck for the ol' lift and shift. There was a bike rack/planter out the front of the building that Louise wanted to use to create a barrier between the car park and the patio area. It took all of us and a moving dolly, but we managed it. Then realised we'd landed it backwards and had to turn it around.

Moving into the café, we switched some of the book storage around to make better use of the space.

Finally, we wheeled a massive planter in from the garden to the dance studio to protect it over the Bank Holiday weekend.