Five of us laced up to bring a bit of colour back to South Reading Community Centre, for a painting session. We were chuffed to welcome Daniel, the GoodGym leader from Basingstoke, who made the trip over to get painting with us. It's always a treat when the GoodGym family crosses postcodes. Even better: three brand new GoodGymers joined us for the first time.Louis , Rim and Afua. If a first session involving paintbrushes and good company doesn't hook you, nothing will. The centre is one of Reading's new Family Hubs, a welcoming space offering services to help give local children the best start in life. Our job was to spruce up the community rooms, and we gave the walls a fresh coat of eggshell that's made the room feel brighter. Now, the session listing did promise we "don't plan to make a mess." however a good bit of paint found its way onto the floor as well as the walls, but nothing a bit of white spirit and some elbow grease couldn't sort. We left the place clean, tidy, and looking all the better for a few hours of GoodGym graft.

Fancy joining us, we meet to run, walk, cycle and do good around Reading. Sign up and hear about our next session.

One GoodGymer headed to Prospect Parkrun on a lovely sunny Saturday morning to volunteer and give back to a community event we love. Taking on the role of funnel manager for the very first time, it was brilliant to get stuck in at the finish line, cheering on runners as they moved smoothly through after crossing. A highlight of the morning was watching a young boy absolutely fly around the course and finish at a blistering pace. Proof that there is no age limit on who might overtake you on a Parkrun!

Want to come along and volunteer around Reading? Join GoodGym and stay tuned for our next session!

We headed out along Kings Road for a litter-picking mission to help tidy up one of Reading's busy roads. We worked our way along the street collecting the usual mix of cans, wrappers and other bits that had been left behind.

Along the way we spotted the new fruit market at Jacksons Corner, but the real highlight was seeing the newly finished footbridge over the Kennet. We managed 4 bags of rubbish, between of three us, not bad for a cold Monday in March.