Was nice to see the amazing work this team are doing, hopefully helped a little too 🙂 Lovely to see Carol back from her travels and to welcome Shelley to her first Baby Bank mission. We certainly helped clear the decks ready for the next clothes-sorting session. A never-ending task!

Great to see a big turn out of GoodGymers tonight. 12 happy volunteers met on the roof of Nicolsons Centre, a part of Maidenhead most of us had never been before. Task owner Donna led us from the back entrance to what used to be a nightclub, Smokeys. No disco lights or bars anymore, just a stripped out large space housing all kinds of materials from fabric to paints, from stationery to sewing machines! 

Our task was to organise things as best as we could. We made good progress and grouped the material lying in two rooms of Smokeys into categories such as Paints, Arts & crafts, Stationery, Fabric, Leather, Sewing, Gardening, Jars and more. From here, they will slowly be taken down to the Green Skills library to be upcycled. 

We were so efficient that there was even time for some fun with a block of stone, a chisel and hammer! Another productive, social evening and a thankful task owner. 

Jen and Sheila went to help Mrs M with her garden, as due to Asthma she is unable to do much herself We raked up all the fallen leaves from the lawn and patio and any dead leaves from the pots We weeded the front garden and then with the remaining time weeded the beds on the top patio. The garden looked much tidier once we had finished, and Mrs M was very grateful for our efforts

Shift 3 of the Lantern Parade felt like a breeze! Angela and Jess stayed back from the previous shift to help (thank you!).

The seven of us working alongside the Norden Farm staff and other volunteers, made light work of the post-event clean up. After reclaiming lantern sticks from the public, we grouped them into batches of 10 per their colour. These were efficiently taped together and transferred to the library side of the road where a van was parked to load 'em up. We also helped gather discarded lanterns, remove signs from lampposts and Anne-Laure even did some heavy lifting to help the Stage crew.

Everyone - including task owner Kayleigh - was surprised at how fast things got done. The new high-vis vests courtesy Viv, got a good outing (and photographing) and we all walked away satisfied and happy to have been part of this joyful annual event once again!

One of our favourite events in the GoodGym calendar, and the turnout of GoodGymers did not disappoint. Sheila and Georgeta stayed on after the set-up shift, joined by Frances who so enjoyed her first GoodGym mission that she returned 2 seconds later for her second! We were also joined by Jess, Angela, Roberta and Diya, and after a briefing by our taskowner we went to our assigned spots. We handed out lanterns to the excited children, switching on their lights, and handing out the spares to anyone else who wanted them And then the parade was off to the sounds of the Beatroot Drummers at the front and the Bollywood Brass Band at the back. We were dazzled by the ladies on stilts and the hundreds of animal lanterns. Its such a joyous event, put on by Norden Farm for the community. They are so grateful for the support from GoodGym, and we are grateful to them for putting it on for us!

Viv, Sheila, Mike and myself met at the Maidenhead Town Hall and welcomed Frances to her first GoodGym deed. We were the first shift out of three GoodGym shifts today at the Norden Farm Lantern Parade. We were tasked with preparing the lanterns, attaching them to wooden sticks with batteries and wiring, ready to be connected and handed out to the children before the parade would start. The theme this year was Animals and each school made their own paper lanterns, each school featuring an animal. Anything from swans, badgers, ladybirds to cats, foxes and some other hard to identify creatures... Along with other voluteers, we made light work of that, and the lanterns were ready in no time. Next we placed some posters on lampposts, as instructed and, finally, we had a moment of respite before the public was due to arrive, and the handover to GoodGym shift 2. Good time for a cuppa and a group chat. We hope Frances has enjoyed her first GoodGym session and looking forward to seeing her on many more to come.