Caroline and Sheila helped out at the Baby Bank on a day when the facility was quite short of volunteers. Caroline was having to dig deep into the piles of clothes donations to find the sizes we are short of, while Sheila was doing secondary checking and topping up the boxes ready for referrals. Some urgent referrals came in during the morning and it brought it home to us how vital it is that clothes are fully checked and sorted into the right boxes to be ready when they are needed

Six GoodGymers met at Ray Mill Island for another round of cutting branches from the now diminishing pile of bush. Both large and small branches are being used to form a 'Fern Forest' on the side of the stream on Ray Mill Island.

The log barrier will both prevent people from going into the stream and the wood and fern will provide a habitat for insects and little creatures to flourish.

Regulars Mike, Georgeta, Sol and Diya knew the task on hand. New to Ray Mill - but not GoogGyming - Mohamud and Louis quickly joined the group, sawing and cutting branches. We filled two loads of the trolley placing the thin branches under big ones to create a tapestry (and stop kids from throwing sticks in the stream).

A nice physical activity after a day of desk work for most of us!

Georgeta and Sarah visited Mr F to help him with his TV and iPad. An absolutely delightful gentleman. He told us that his TV’s were prone to blowing up, we were intrigued. The TV, was balanced precariously on a unit with an extra plank of wood, as the unit was narrower than the new TV’s legs, but that wasn’t obvious at first glance. The TV seemed to be working fine but Mr F reported the signal would frequently drop…never mind the signal, the whole TV nearly fell on the floor when Sarah was checking the arial connection due to the rocky base it was sitting on 😱🤣 Disaster averted! Luckily Georgeta wasn’t quick enough to catch that on camera 🤣 Sarah discovered that the TV arial socket was literally taped to the wall and was very old and wobbly, no amount of retightening the screws would hold it. Mr F was advised to visit the local iron monger for a replacement. On to the iPad, that was also in good working order but someone was sending weekly emails with Microsoft Word attachments to Mr F instead of .pdf’s - we managed to open the document in Google Docs but it took a few clicks - We advised him to email the sender asking them to print to .pdf before attaching as the other recipients had also had issues. After a lovely chat we bid him farewell with a hug. Georgeta & Sarah

Louis, Christine, Viv and Jen all met up at Pinder Hall ready for our instructions to ensure a smooth pack down of the Cookham Arts Festival 2026.

A quick before photo...

The first job was to retrieve the paintings from the displays to return to the artists, collecting the hooks as we went. We then helped to collect in the screens and remove any stickers ready for them to be stacked under the stage.

Dismantling the screen legs, easels and other stands was next on the list along with stacking away tables and chairs.

Jen went below stairs to help put the screens and legs back in their rightful place under the stage.

Just time for a quick group photo and an after photo showing a spectacular transformation.

Angela, Yvonne, Mohamud and myself answered the call to help at the Norden Farm Kite Festival this afternoon with the pack up. It was a very successful event, lots,of families attended, there was entertainment, food, ice-cream and the weather was perfect for kite flying! We joined at the end of the event and helped with dismantling the tents and litter picking. Many hands make light work, and this was the case here! A warm welcome and congratulations go to Mohamud,who's done his very first GoodGym task! We hope to see you again soon!

Welfare visit for Mrs D