GoodGym Nottingham were in demand this week as we had requests for help in two locations on opposite sides of Nottingham. As we can’t be in two places at once (sadly), we decided to split up and give everyone the option of attending in Sherwood or in the Meadows.

The Sherwood group returned to the Community Centre where we helped out last week as there were still a lot of jobs for us to get stuck into. Once again, Louise was there to welcome us and tell us what needed doing, and we split into 3 groups to tackle each job.

Dayna and Rachel were tasked with moving a pile of plastic matting to one of the grassy areas which will hopefully enable it to be used for additional car parking at events. The mats had clearly not been moved for a long while and had become home to various insects and spiders who will now need to find a new place to dwell. They also had to remove all the old plastic pegs which had held the mats down previously, which proved to be the trickiest and most time-consuming part of the task.

Group 2, Rose and Florence, were tasked with sorting out some of the cupboards inside the community centre. Those of us who were outside did not see exactly what this involved, but the photos suggest it may have involved moving books, suitcases and….bottles of champagne???

Meanwhile, in the back garden of the community centre Peter was tasked with trying to dig out a wooden rail that had seen better days. Unfortunately it was securely concreted in and, whilst one side came loose the other was not to be shifted. Soil replaced and copious amounts of water (not champagne) were drunk!

As the hour drew to a close, everyone helped to lay out the plastic matting before a quick group photo.

Thanks again to Louise at the Sherwood Community Centre for having us and we hope to return again very soon.

We welcomed Florence to her first GoodGym session and Dayna back for her second!

Last night’s task was right on point as a fabulous 10 of us headed to the Sherwood Community Centre. We were met on arrival by Louise who talked us through our jobs for the evening.

The main task was to move several metal storage cabinets from one cupboard space to another – sounds simple, right? But before the cabinets could be moved, they needed emptying of all sorts of contents, most of which was not boxed, bagged or in any particular order. We also needed to move some ballet bars from the destination cupboard which were to be re-homed in the original cupboard next door. Once the storage cabinets were safely in their new cupboard home (which Dayna had diligently measured up to check which order the cabinets would need to be placed), we then had to restock them with their contents, ensuring that the same items went back in the cabinet in which they started.

Alongside this, we were also tasked with removing some items from the original cupboard (but that weren’t in a metal storage cabinet) and transporting them to a shed outside in the garden. Finally, a few of us also helped with moving some items of rubbish and broken furniture to a garden area at the rear of the carpark. Are you still following?

It was a complex task worthy of any escape room or Taskmaster challenge, and with 10 of us it did get a little chaotic at times. Thankfully Louise was on hand to direct us and despite a few confused moments we managed to successfully complete our mission (hopefully with every item back in its rightful place….).

We thoroughly enjoyed our first visit to the Sherwood Community Centre. Not only did 10 of us attend which may be one of our records, we got to channel our inner Chuckle Brothers, Darcey Bussell and Dale Winton as we moved furniture, ballet bars and a shopping trolley!

As you can see, by the end we were jeté-ing with joy (well, some of us were…).

A warm welcome to Dayna who completed her first GoodGym task. Also a big congrats to Peter who has completed his 40th task - the countdown is on to the black t-shirt!!

We will be returning to the Sherwood Community Centre next week for more fun – why not join us? Sign up here.

Nine GoodGymers returned to the Meadows Foodbank last night for our latest task. We've spent many evenings helping inside the foodbank, sorting donations, cleaning, stacking food and moving snooker tables, but on this occasion we had the pleasure of helping in the garden out the back of the Bridgeway Hall Methodist centre where the foodbank is housed.

We were met by Dave on arrival who gave us our instructions and some refreshments, then we set to work out in the last of the day's sunshine. The winter months had resulted in the garden becoming pretty overgrown with weeds, so our main job was to pull these up to clear the pathway and raised beds. We also chopped back some of the thorny bushes and collected some compost from the far side of the garden to be put into the weed-free beds. The beds will soon be planted with seeds and potatoes. There are also plans for the centre to install some secure bike parking in the back yard, so we may have a future task assisting with clearing this space.

We welcomed Adrian to his first GoodGym session, and Liz who has moved to Nottingham from Bristol where she used to do GoodGym. We're also delighted to see some of our previous GoodGym Nottingham folk return after a bit of a break, and of course we're always pleased to see the regular faces too!!