On Saturday 13th January 6th, after Parkrun, David , Gill , Martin, Dani , Duncan and Laura made their way up the hill from Wardown Park to The Biscot Mill pub to deliver their donations for the Tub2Pub campaign. There was lots of discussion about who had eaten the contents of the tubs, but obviously it couldn’t possibly have been them. ;-) The bar staff were pleased to relieve them of the tubs, which will be shredded, sold for recycling with the proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Care.

Then on Sunday 14th January 3 more GoodGymers made their way to the Jolly Topers after an afternoon of litter picking on Stopsley Common. Yasin, Julius and Ehsan enjoyed eating a few of the last few Quality Street from the bottom of one of the tubs before handing the tubs over to the bar staff. Meanwhile Miriam had headed to Harpenden with her tub and handed it over at The Old Bell.

On Wednesday 17th January Ella completed a solo Visit to The Ewe and Lambs with her empty Quality Street Tub and deposited on the bar. She had a chilly walk there and back but racked up another 5km towards our January total. Neil then braved the cold, wrapped up in his duvet coat on Thursday the 18th, and made his way to The Anchor in Bedford where they took charge of another empty Heroes container.

Lizzy had been biding her time to take 2 Celebrations Tubs and a Roses tub to The Bumble Bee at Flitwick on the 21st. Hope she didn’t eat all the chocs by herself 😃 although with all the cycling she’s been doing she probably needs the energy!

If you went down in the woods today, you sure of a big surprise,

If you went down in the woods today you'd probably meet these guys,

And all the litter that there was

Was gathered up without any pause,

Today's the day the GoodGymmers went to Stopsley.

🌳🌳🌳

Every GoodGymmer who's been good was sure of a treat today.

Lots of empty tins of beer were hidden behind the hay

Beneath the trees where nobody sees,

They poked about on bended knees,

And even found some time to take a quick pic.

🌳🌳🌳

Litter pick time for GoodGymmers

Yasin and Julius were having a lovely time today.

Welcoming our new recruit

Sophia joined us and we all said Yay!

Duncan threw some cans about

Ehsan bought a meter out

And Gill found an old green chair

At 3 o'clock, our Dani and Marti

Then took us to the hedge

And with our bags full they gave us spares.

🌳🌳🌳

If you go down in the woods today, you won't even have to moan.

If you go down in the woods today there will be no litter thrown.

For GoodGymmers don't need no applause

They cleaned it up for certain because

Today's the day the Goodgymers did their litter-pick.

🌳🌳🌳

🎉Congratulations Sophia for your first GoodGym task. 🎉 We hope to see you again soon.

(Apologies to Martin whose name I had to shorten to get it to scan).

This week we returned to the 61 Football Club to start a series of indoor tasks for the winter.

We spent the summer days giving the football ground a spruce up outside with some fresh white paint on the railing posts and brick red on the clubhouse, but now the winter weather is on the way it's time to head indoors where it's warm and dry!

We gave the changing rooms a good scrub down in preparation for a coat of fresh paint at our next visit. Walls were wiped, stains were bleached and the muddy floors given a good scrubbing.

We left the place looking much fresher and it will surely look very smart when we return to paint it! by

This evening at the Sikh Temple Shri Guru Ravidass Sangat in Luton, Goodgym formed an international and interfaith team of cookery students learning the kitchen arts of Langar.

Our hosts welcomed us all on arrival with chai and spiced fritters called pakora, and an introduction to our meal plan for the evening. Langar is about offering a simple nourishing meal to share.

The many hands were turned to chopping, stirring, seasoning, mixing, kneading and rolling. The many stomachs were rumbling in anticipation as the spices blended and the flavours wafted. The many hearts were warmed with a common hospitality. The kitchen was busy to busting.

The supper table seated folks from India, Ireland, England, Italy, Iran, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Morocco and Libya.

Langar is community, connection and cooking, ensuring no-one who comes through the temple door should leave feeling hungry.

And no-one did !! In fact we left with full bellies, recipe books and aprons.

P.S. Jhakaas is hindi for 'awsome'