Another year of GoodGym helping at the Macmillan Coffee Morning - a community fundraising day organised by the Maidenhead United Football Club which features varying events over the morning and a litter pick led by GoodGym.

Seven GoodGymers were joined by 2 ladies attending the fundraiser in the litter pick. We spread out around Braywick Park and 50 minutes later, returned with bags and bags of litter. Everyone then treated themselves to well-deserved cake and hot beverages. A lovely morning spent in the sunshine for a good cause.

A warm welcome to Sarah Chan who joined us for the first time. We hope to see her again soon.

11 GoodGymers met at the Community Centre to continue the good work of tacking crocheted poppies to a 3 metre net panel. This panel will be part of the 21 metre memorial piece that Craft Coop is putting together for Remembrance Day.

So what is this Le Coquelicot Tapestry, you ask? Well, it's French for The Poppy Tapestry, inspired both by the topical Bayeux and our resident French GG-er, Anne-Laure. Sol jokingly suggested we should charge £2 for people to see this Poppy Tapestry and we thought it'll be more appealing if it sounded French. Enter, Anne-Laure and may we present, Le Coquelicot Tapestry. Voilà! :poppy:

Many hands made good progress as we chatted and laughed, resulting in just another social and productive GoodGym mission.

Every now and then, a mission comes along which reminds us of why we love GoodGym and why it is so rewarding. Yesterday was one of those. Kanika and Diya signed up for a task to help an elderly, home-bound lady with her iPhone so she could FaceTime with her poorly daughter. 

We arrived to find out that the phone which had been given to her by her son-in-law, was not charging. She had had the charger on all day, yet the battery was dead. We tried the usual: different plug points, another charger, tighten the cable - nothing worked. Then a brainstorm, "let's remove the protective back cover and try." That did the trick!

While the phone was charging, she told us her daughter had been in a coma and is now recovering at home but is completely reliant on care givers. The elderly lady cannot visit because of her own medical conditions, and so they haven't seen each other ever since the daughter came out of the hospital. Enter, ✨ Technology ✨

We connected them on a video call...and the smiles were everything! Both mum and daughter were giggling away, so happy to see each other and excited that they would continue to, everyday. 

We sat a while for some more family stories and then left, with the lady full of gratitude and our hearts full of warmth. It was one of those truly feel-good missions where you can see the instant impact and it's priceless 😇