It's bin a while since we last visited our friends at Slough Refugee Support but as always, it was lovely to see Keriann.

Our task this evening was to give the entrance area a big tidy up by removing moss, cutting back hedges, pruning rose bushes, pulling out weeds and planting pansies.

We met at Salt hill activity centre at 6.30pm and took a nice 1 km walk around the park to the task venue where Keriann was ready and waiting for us. With a quick task overview we were ready to get going.

It was great to have Hamid back on his second task with us. Hamid is so speedy with the shears that we likened him to a hamster.....beavering away at the hedge, we literally couldn't clear the ground quick enough.

Jean was all over the rose bushes and even found the one we donated a while back for the memory garden. Mehdi helped Jean cut back our rose bush to it could grow and then cut back the hedge that was a thorn in the side of the rose bush as it was stopping the light from getting to the plants. They definitely rose to the occasion

Peter was on a number of duties today as he always is. Pruning the other rose bush, turning over the soil, sweeping, collecting and disposing the debris. Peter even very kindly agreed to give the children's garden picnic bench a makeover. We look forward to seeing the end result soon.

Jen and Kam didn't moss around as they systematically scrapped the floor and disposed of it.

Pam and Abdulaziz concentrated on the main entrance walkway, clearing the weeds and mainly tidying up after Hamid.

Agnija arrived in time to clear the remaining patch in the memory garden.

Following all health and safety protocols we even had a few trashy moments..

All in all, with a lot of members tonight, we cleared the area in a really good time.

Keriann advised us of the AGM for Slough Refugee Support and invited us all to come along. I did a presentation last year at this AGM and really enjoyed meeting all those involved in such a valuable service in Slough. The AGM will be on Friday 25th August 10am - 12pm at 29 Church Street (Slough CVS meeting room). Everyone is welcome.

Mehdi, who I first met at Slough Refugee Support English class said at the end

SRS is like my family. They have supported me since I arrived here 7 months ago.

And tonight, Mehdi helped his SRS family with his GoodGym family.

This evening's task had so much going on! Firstly, a warm welcome to newcomers Tim, Sama and Hamid and the lovely ladies from GoodGym Windsor and Maidenhead - Jess, Sophie and Sheila. Thank you all for coming along to the session and a special one at that.

Thank you to Chrissy for hosting our 5th birthday task at St Mary's Farnham Royal Church of England Primary School. We managed to get a fair few tasks completed tonight including the learning garden, the play area and the side garden.

Hat's off to Team Dr who with cutting hedge technology chopped back the shrubbery to expose the window and security camera! Everyone was rooting for him to cut it back as sometimes trees crowd and well, let's face it, someone has to grow! Well done to Sheila, Jess, Sophie, Nimi and Jenni who all worked really hard on clearing this area.

So good to have Keira back with us...it's been too long. Team Sutyee had Keira and Ruth weeding the playground area.

Whilst over in the learning garden Team Harsha had Jean, Abdulaziz, Mehdi, Hamid, Sama, Tim, Pam and Kam clearing up the bed edges and deciphering the weeds from the plants (thank goodness we have keen gardeners in the group who know the difference).

Peter took on the lone ranger task of removing all the weeds along the perimeter of the school! And what a phenomenal job he did too!

Forty odd minutes in and we were all done....everyone keen and eager for the fitness session (or maybe I just imagined that).

We had games, circuits, confusion, basketball hooping, leg exercises, (hatred for me)... you name it...we worked it tonight.

The finale were the cakes, sing song and speech (you'll be glad to know that I didn't sing...and only did a tiny speech).

Thank you so much to all 21 team members who made our 5th birthday task so special.

Now onto our summary of the year in action.

Hi Year 5

Five years in and what can I say that hasn’t been said before. This group only exists because of YOU and your dedication to GoodGym Slough. We have community in the heart of everything we do. We are diverse, we are open to all, we target groups that need the help and we do it all with such passion and love. And we continue to grow with new members joining us and finding new task owners.

Since launching in July 2018, we have tallied a total of 4240 Good Deeds! We’ve helped over 30 local groups and charities with tasks ranging from gardening to litter picking to flyering to painting to marshalling to packing and stacking, sorting and storing. You name it, we've done it.

So what have we been up to in the year leading to us turning 5...here is a little reminder in the only way we write with GoodGym - with puns!

• We gave a lidl help to local residents with shopping tasks;

• We were rooting for all our new gardening projects;

• We had a Ra-leigh good thyme at the spring, summer sessions at the allotments;

• Our art will always go on with the help we've given to Artful hub with indoor painting, leaflet distributing and what a crate job we did too with helping Eva move units;

• Jen did a great job of b'rambling on with her BBOWT tasks at Haymill Nature Reserve;

• Save - a - life : Surrender your knife was probably our most emotional task this year;

• We surfed the net-work with many networking events in Slough promoting all things GoodGym Slough;

• Christmas was a time for happy holly-days as we finished the year with our annual hamper wrap with Slough Outreach and called it a day till the infamous January challenge!;

• We marshalled our way through the year with tasks at junior parkrun as the cheer squad, sleighing with Santa at the Burnham Parade, stalling it at the Cippenham fayre and sharpening our knowledge with the Knife Angel task;

• The Golden Girls were formed after another epic task at Thames Hospice care. The jackets even made a cameo appearance at junior parkrun last Sunday;

• Let us spray with all the new Churches we have supported this year. From St Paul's to St Marys to St John the Baptist;

• Slow Ways or is it Slough Ways? We verified the route from Slough to Eton. Enjoyed a coffee in Eton then re-routed ourselves back to base;

• Acting like kids at the schools we helped tidy up (especially tonight);

• Decluttering Slough of the hoard of litter litter-ally everywhere!;

As for the races, this year we have glowed, beat a boat and run backwards (not literally). We started off with the Dorney 10k Glow in the Dark run at which Gauri did her first ever 10k distance. Followed by a little run around Paris with Ricky where he got his marathon PB and I ate loads of cakes at each water station. Loosely followed by a backwards route run in London with Harsha - never forget that night out! And our final escapade was a 10k run along the River Thames trying to beat a boat with Jenny, Claire and Ricky!

Reward with Awards

Most memorable task - Knife Angel

As 5 of us guarded the Knife Angel and guided visitors around the Angel... who could forget the mum that lost her son in a case of mistaken identity to a knife crime? Not a dry eye that day.

Most Impactful task - Slough Refugee Support

Our most impactful task this year have been the ones we have carried out with Slough Refugee Support English Class. The class participants have very much enjoyed doing something back for the community and 4 of their members have even joined us now on our weekly Group Runs.

Best Race - Beat the Boat

What a brilliant concept of a race, run by a local runner and delivered in a simple yet effective way. Ok, it's not a PB type of event but it was full of camaraderie, support and fun (and processo!)

Biggest contributor - Jen

Wow! what hasn't Jen done this past year? From group runs at both Slough and Windsor and Maidenhead, plus missions and task force ownership of the monthly task with BBWOT, she racked up the good deeds - WELL DONE JEN

Best Photography session - Allotments

Our monthly visit to the allotments is not only a pure strength session of digging, lifting, wheelbarrowing soil, it's also one where we get our best shots (photo type not drinking!)

Best Dressing award – Burnham Lions Christmas Fayre

We all looked adora-bell in our Santa hats and baubles

Best Grit and Effort award – Ujala Foundation garden sessions

So much to do such little thyme, pure effort was needed on this mini project back in March.

Best Community Award - King's Coronation Weekend - The Big Help Out

Our collaboration task with Slough Bid and St Mary's Church led to a 30 plus turnout including residents and local business on a litter pick around Slough Town centre.

Cheers to five years...here's to many more