Goodgym Slough were in Maidenhead last night supporting a 24 hour epic step (hit step) for Thames Hospice

The team went down to support & encourage steppers to step in time & keep the core group going !

It was great to see a community coming together with food, refreshments & a bbq in what ended up a warm summer night in September!

Stepping against a backdrop of flood & candle (battery powered) lights & funky music was great.

Well done to all that came down to

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

Tonight was our second visit to St Paul’s Church on Stoke Rd to help them with some ongoing outdoor grounds work… that age old problem called garden weeds.

We had a mixed bag of modes of transport tonight. Kam drove direct to the task, Devajani and Maya walked, Dr and I ran the slightly longer route from our meet up point whilst Pam walked the direct root. None the less we all made it in good thyme!

Whilst Savi, Pam and I were waiting basking in the evening sun we did a quick leg strength exercise. It was more of a dance routine to use at shindigs but we had fun anyway.

As the rest of the team arrived, I told them what we did last time and discussed the meaning of our names whilst we waited for task owner Neline. Homework for next week is to know the meaning of our names… though A* to Devajani and Maya for knowing theirs, even I worked out my name!

Neline soon arrived to give us an overview of the job at hand tonight which involved cutting back shrubbery, weeding the paving slabs and shifting some soil to the bed.

Savi was straight on the shrub task. He had some cutting hedge technology at hand and was quick off the mark in giving it a short back and sides.

The rest of the team were paving the way in uprooting the weeds from the slabs. No easy task! Some of the weeds were so deeply rooted that we had to turnip the sheer force we had just to beet it!

Although we didn’t manage to complete the whole area we did a pretty good job - our good weed for the day done!

Next week we are at Ujala Foundation helping them with their garden.

Knife crime and violence is a serious issue within our community.

The visit of the Knife Angel sculpture to Arbour Park offers the opportunity to educate and inform the community about the risks of carrying a knife and the dangers and real-life consequences.

Partners across Slough have joined forces throughout January to run education workshops, knife crime talks and public events.

At GoodGym, we volunteered for a few hours to talk to people visiting the Knife Angel, to explain the reasons behind it, answer questions and share anti-violence messages, which they can then pass onto their kids and friends.

Upton Grammar prefects from year 7 and 8 came along to see the Knife Angel and take photos and videos. They will be writing articles and doing a presentation to their assembly.

The imposing 27ft tall sculpture was made by Alfie Bradley and the British Ironwork Centre as a National Monument Against Violence and Aggression.

It has been touring the country and was brought to Slough thanks to Thames Valley Police, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley, Slough Borough Council and other partners.

The aim is to tackle violence in all its forms and to create a lasting legacy against knife crime and violent crime.

Thousands of conversations have taken place so far between members of the public, police and volunteers.

Hundreds of school children and young people have been educated on topics including knife crime, domestic abuse and bullying and more than 20 knives and weapons have been handed into police or put in the knife amnesty bin at Slough Police Station.

Families of those who have lost their lives to knife crime are among those who have visited the Knife Angel.

Today, one mother whose son was killed 20 years ago, came to visit and was visibly moved.

One parent, speaking at the opening ceremony on 10 January, said: "The social fabric of this town is very strong. We want it to be safe."

Visitors can write their message of reflection and anti-violence on a tag which will go on the fencing around the angel. Poignant messages on the tags are there to read, with the community really understanding the impact and devastation of knife crime.

It can feel like an impossible task to rid Slough of violent crime, but initiatives such as the Knife Angel really help to get the conversation started and potentially stop people from taking actions they may regret in future.

If it prevents another knife death, it can only be a good thing.

For updates on the rest of the month of action, visit www.slough.gov.uk/knifeangel

Key events coming up are a multi-faith candlelit vigil on Thursday 26 January at 7pm and a community day on Saturday 28 January.