There were lots of loose screws actually, more of that later however.

Today was Part 1 of a 3 part mission to support the Cookham Art Club's annual exhibition.

Today was all about furniture removal and setting things up for judging day on Saturday.

Lots of the required furniture is stored away under the stage so Viv crawled down into that small space to help bring out screens, legs, signs, stands and easels.

Tables and chairs were relocated and put into position as directed. Another team were helping attach the screens to legs - unless we found any loose screws...of which there were plenty 😂.

Screws tightened, legs placed and screens attached - it was tough going in the heat.

We finished the task with a more gentle sitting down job of checking in some of the paintings that were going to be judged and/or exhibited. After a quick tutorial from Task Owner Wendy, this job was easel-ly done!

After a much needed ice lolly/ice pop break it was time to finish and part company until our return on Sunday for the big exhibition set up.

This relentless hot weather meant that watering was, of course, the top priority at the Community Allotment. Working in the heat meant that we almost ended up redder than our Tshirts! There was also just enough time for Sol to pot up some alpine strawberry runners and Sheila to trim the unruly tomatoes. Sol also harvested some beans and welsh onions for her dinner. Delicious!

The Baby Bank were very short of volunteers today, so Sheila and only two other volunteers were in charge of the clothes checking and sorting. We left the boxes stocked up ready for preparing referrals but the donations were coming in far quicker than we could sort, so plenty to do next week!

Five GoodGymmers, one solar eclipse, and a truly heroic amount of extension cables — that was the scene at the Green Skills Library today.

While the sky dimmed to an eerie twilight, the team lit up the indoors with some top‑tier tidying. Stairs were vacuumed with gusto, floors were swept into submission, rubbish was cleared with precision, and the cable chaos was tamed.

As the moon slid across the sun outside, inside it was all brushes, bags and banter — a neat little eclipse‑themed clean‑up that left the Library shining brighter than the sliver of daylight overhead.

Massive thank you to Jen for stepping up and leading the task.

Welfare visit for Mrs D

Friday afternoon arrived quickly and it was time to head to the Community allotment to help to water the plants.

Christine, Didem, and Angela joined Sol on a very sunny afternoon. This made the task a quick and enjoyable work. We chatted away about summer trips and sampled some raspberries.

Discussion about kale, onions and leeks ensued, and we admired how well the runner beans have grown this season.

Watering was done in quick time, and Sol was able to head off to Birmingham a bit earlier.

Happy weekend!