Six enthusiastic Good Gymers set to work weeding beds and clearing bindweed at St Lukes school. Adam and Ben showed great perseverance using a trowel, fork and finally a large spade to dig a deep hole for a shrub. There were so many rocks but eventually all the new shrubs were planted and watered. Gill planted up some colourful pansies in smaller pots whilst Yesim and Roberta completed the weeding of other beds. Finally we cleared up and made our way home before dark!

Lifting and shifting did you say All Saints Junior School? Absolutely, we twelve GoodGymmers say back!

We arrived on foot (run and walk variety) and cycles to tackle the lockers that needed moving out of the corridors. And in no time all lockers were neatly tucked away into various classrooms.

With time on hand, we went at the small courtyard overrun with weeds. How many GoodGymmers does it take to trim a hedge? Let's see who can find the answer in the photos!

Weeding and trimming done, compost bins filled, we said hearty goodbyes and went off into the rainbow (while the sun went missing).

Georgeta, Meggie, Mark, Ben and Sheila all went to help out at Maidenhead Festival, a free community event. All the stallholders needed to pack up their stalls and transport their stuff off the site while the music and entertainment continued around them. Our task was to safely guide the cars across the site to their pitch whilst keeping all the festival-goers out of their way. As well as directing people to the toilets, first aid and lost property. Great work, team!

No man is an island…but Ray Mill is one! We were excited to head to an arty task for our Wednesday night session this week, supporting newly-formed community project Friends of Ray Mill Island.

Our mission was to help volunteers from the project to paint the back wall of the island’s toilet block white. This provides a blank canvas for artist Virginie Colin, who will be creating a beautiful mural celebrating the diverse wildlife in the surrounding area.

In the glorious evening sunshine we were soon on a roll-er, and we enjoyed hearing more about the Friends’ plans for the island. As well as the painters, Diya, Kanika and Sara got to work on sanding down some benches that were in need of a bit of TLC. And a big shout out to Adam and Nivi, who arrived early and did some hedge trimming too.

A warm welcome to Julie, who joined us for the first time this evening and did a great job as part of the painting team.

If you’d like to find out more about what the Friends have planned, there is a Community Open Day on the island from 3-7pm on Sunday 23 June.

We can’t wait to see Virginie’s amazing artwork unveiled and follow the progress of this project.

This evening we took our Wednesday club (aka the Maidenhead GoodGym group run) to the Mencap Society's Wednesday club to help with some gardening.

We met up at our home from home, the Maidenhead Community Centre, which is only a short walk from Highview Centre, the home of not only Mencap, but also the Alzheimer's Society and other community organisations.

Sheila led the majority of the group, who were walking, and I was joined by runners Adam and Jess. We did a warm up and a lap of Kidwells before chasing after the walkers. With tired legs following Endure 24 I'm sorry to say we didn't catch them!

When we arrived at Highview Centre the walkers had already been greeted by task owner Colin and members of the Wednesday Club and they were getting stuck into the task - cutting back overgrown shrubs, pulling up weeds and battling brambles in the back garden.

I nipped out to find Ben, who had opted to meet us at the task, and even in the short time I was out the gardeners made great progress.

Ben joined Adam working in the front garden and they did an amazing job cutting things back and clearing weeds, including loads of bindweed.

This was the first time we've helped at Highview during a Mencap Wednesday club session and it was lovely to see the venue in use and to meet some of the members. There was a real buzz in the room as the members played games, did crafts and enjoyed a disco.

It was a lovely sociable evening, catching up with old friends and welcoming back newer members Caroline and Viv. While we worked we were treated to delicious home made Victoria sponge and cups of tea. We will be sure to return soon, as we have been invited to help paint 6 benches. Can't wait!