Today 8 goodgymers supported the Friends of Leagrave Park and Luton Borough Council with the monthly community litterpick. Despite the poor weather conditions, the team collected over 10 bags of rubbish 🗑 and covered a vast majority of the park. Whilst collecting in the woodland we came across some very pretty flowers on the river bank. Well done team, as ever you were all awesome.

3 of Luton's Goodgymers fought through the miserable weather to weed and mulch some of the trees planted as part of the Peace Garden Initiative. We had no tools, but great resolve as we got stuck into the task. We soon had a nice pile of weeds to rehouse as instructed by LBC , under the nearby bushes and we managed to mulch 22 of the 40 trees. Rebecca and Gill were both very suprised to see me turn up to an outdoor task without, what they felt was an integral bit of my kit. I came out with one of my bobble hats. So although it has been joked about in the past, it would now appear that it is official and Martin is Luton Goodgyms "bobble hat guy" . Great work team 👏

I walked from Lea halls to the peoples park. I managed to get to the people park before 10.00am. This helped me to see other GoodGymers get to the place and I came to know each and every GoodGymer that participated in the mission. This morning saw our monthly visit to People's Park, to help the Friends group with their regular litterpick. 4 of Luton's Goodgymers made it to the task this month, and we welcomed Jingo to his first task. After the usual do's and don'ts brief, we got stuck in and set off in different directions to cover as much of the park as possible. The litterpicks always give us some interesting finds and this time was no different. Whilst clearing a spot that is well known for people camping out, I found (roughly) 30 lottery scratch cards, which is a first for me whilst litterpicking. Needless to say, I imagine they were all losing cards, but the winner was the nice clear space that was left after picking them all up. When we finished litterpicking, we helped move some mulch from a large pile to the orchard for another job the Friends group were undertaking later in the day. This was a successful task, that we all enjoyed and we look forward to supporting next month. Great effort team, well done

A warm welcome today to Sheetal who returned for another litterpicking session at Leagrave Park but this time wearing her newly minted red Goodgym t-shirt. She was super keen to get stuck into the mission and arrived half an hour early ! Goodgym Luton came out in force on this fine sunny Saturday morning. Lizzy, Yasin, Musa and Tigger cycled to the task, Neil and Sheetal walked and we were joined by Rebecca who made her way from the other side of town to help us give Leagrave Park some love. And Leagrave Park loved us back ! Looking green and gorgeous in the Spring sunshine this mission was actually a nature walk with bonuses like seeing the first bluebells, listening to birdsong and strolling and chatting with friends of Leagrave Park as we walked. Kevin from ABCD kitted us all out with gloves and pickers for the usual crop of discards which today included three parts of a bicycle and an umbrella.

The Three D's of Dani, Derick and David went on a good long run out to Runfold Avenue to do the last bit of scrub clearing for a while, we'll be leaving birds to do their nesting now.

At a spot by the river a group of blackthorn bushes and a big old elder tree had formed a secluded den that attracts antisocial behaviour, so met Sam and the van from the council and we set to work cutting back the trees to open the space up.

Even just the four of us we managed to fill the van within an hour and send Sam off with a full load heading for composting. That just left us the nice return run along the river and back into town

What a gorgeous Monday morning for getting out on the hillside and working with the conservation volunteers. Matt from BCN Wildlife Trust brought cake and thanked the crew for their ongoing efforts and contribution to the Wilder Futures project. Today we had the additional excitement of a two person contractor team with their chipper machine, and they worked steadily at sawing wood and scrub and feeding the machine with the cuttings. So next time at this site you will see a liberal application of woodchip along the pathways. Sam from Luton Borough Council Parks and myself were detailed to tidy up the stumps that were too chunky for the chipper as well as clearing a large quantity of bramble from clearing work at the corner of Fairford Avenue and Bushmead Road. A very satisfying task and a great start to a Goodgym week.