4 Goodgymers helped the Sri Guru Ravidass Sangat Gudwara to host another cooking class with the Friends of the temple. The team helped prep, cook and tidy up. The Aunties were cooking Muttor Paneer, with rice and chapatis. Adrian has become the Chapati king, its like he's been making them for years and Mayra was butter girl for the evening, covering the lovely flatbreads in a cheeky bit of buttery sweetness. Kamal gave the eating area a good clean down before everyone sat down to sample the delicious food made. The temple were really appreciative of all the teams help. Well done guys

That was a mammoth task at Farley Community Centre but what a hoot.

Vera from Farley Big Local had asked Gill and Mayra to arrive at 10:30 and she soon had them making about 80 or more stuffing balls, carving the turkey and gammon and getting the vegetables ready to cook. At 11:30 Yasin, Musa , and Kamal arrived and soon got busy making sure everything was ready in the hall. Musa and Yasin were given the onerous task of mashing the potatoes, which they did with aplomb. At around 12.00 the guests started to arrive, and the whole team was busy serving drinks and making them feel welcome. Then it was on to waiting service to make sue that everyone was served with a steaming bowl of vegetable soup. The main course followed, a sumptous roast dinner and we were kept busy either dishing up or waiting. Fortunately between the main course and the pudding the guests had a game of bingo so we had a slight break - but then Vera asked if we could start the washing up - well Yasin took to his Marigolds like a duck to water. When the bingo was done we then served up the desserts and made sure everyone had top ups to their drinks. By the time dessert was over many of the guests were in a party moood and the dancing soon started. Little did we know that we were expected to join in and make some shapes. But being dilligent GoodGymers and not wanting to disappoint, we left Mayra with the washing up while Kamal, Gill and Mus joined the throng on the dance floor. Fortunately before we got too exhausted there was another break for more bingo and we were able to take a breather. After the last couple of dances the guests left with many of them stopping to say how well looked after they had been and how much they appreciated our help. Vera gave us all a bag of chocolates, but I think that was to bribe us to stay longer to help with the washing up and clearing up.

By about 4.30 the hall was empty and pristine, some of us were given our own dinner to enjoy in the peace and quiet before saying goodbye and heading home for a well deserved rest.

Well done team, you worked so hard for so long, but really made the event an absolute success.

Another great session tonight at the Shri Guru Ravidass Sangat Gudwara, supporting the temple with their near neighbours project and welcoming members of the Roma trust and friends of the temple. Tonight we made Aloo Paratha. We were all keen to get stuck in and learn the new skill, making and cookingbthese delicious, stuffed flatbreads 🫓. We welcomed Sheetal to the temple this evening this was her 3rd GG task and i'm sure she enjoyed being with the team. It was also great to see Kamal after a short break from tasks recently hope he can make it along again soon. After sampling our tasty treats, Gill and I had to head off tho join this weeks group run, but the rest of the team stayed and helped with the clean down and tidy up. Great effort guys and girls.

On Saturday the GoodGymers were out in force helping set up decorations and serve food and drinks for those attending a St. Patrick’s Day celebration. It was a great day organised for the local elderly community and there was a fantastic turnout of over 100 people! Everyone was in great spirits as they were treated to some traditional Irish dancing, songs from a local Irish folk band, a prize raffle and a round of bingo!! The GoodGym team also got to sample some of the lovely lunch for their hard work, which was a lovely lamb stew. The organisers were so thankful for our help and hard work on the day, and some of the attendees also expressed their gratitude and thanks. Can we do the same for St. George’s Day please?

This evening we had a whopping 7 GoodGymmers assisting at FoodCycle Luton in a number of different capacities. Gill did a cracking job at running the kitchen as her first night flying solo as Project Leader. Bravo Gill, everyone commented on how calm it was in the kitchen and the food was VERY well received by our guests with a huge amount of empty plates- always a good sign!

Also in the Kitchen was Mayra who did a brilliant job, wasting no time and just getting stuck in. Having volunteered a few times now at FoodCycle, Mayra has done both cooking and hosting so having knowledge on both sides is a real bonus. Helped by the other FoodCycle cooks, a delicious menu was created using the surplus food donations.

The starter was Welsh Rarebit with a mixed leaf salad, main course was Veggie Spaghetti Bolognaise with cheese, and for pudding our guests had delicious donuts with a beautifully arranged fruit salad. The 5-8pm hosting team was entirely made up of GoodGymmers, which was just brilliant! It was wonderful to welcome back Kamal and Tigger who have hosted before, but not for a while! They wasted no time and immediately got stuck in with setting out the chairs and laying the tables, setting up the all important tea and coffee station and just preparing everything ready for our guests arrival.

Corinne attended to volunteer for the second time, so we were relieved not to have scared her off! So friendly, she did a great job helping our guests feel immediately at ease. FoodCycle newbie Gail absolutely smashed her first hosting shift! Nobody would have known it was Gails first time, she jumped right in chatting with guests and keeping the tea and coffee station topped up, along with the other hosts. This week, Dani worked closely with Project Leader Craig to keep track of the number of guests and coordinate with the kitchen team accordingly. This seemed to help the evening run smoothly, and once we had hit our capacity of 50 sit down guests, latecomers were offered takeaways so nobody went away empty handed.

The hosting team worked hard to divide the remaining food donations in to enough takeaway bags so that each guest could take one if they wanted to. The atmosphere was very positive and our guests left having been fed and watered.

All together, a really great team effort- very well done gang! ❤

This morning was the second of our tasks to help with Luton Council's Community Jobs Fairs. Gill, Kamal and Derrick were all on hand to support the event and were soon given specific jobs to do themselves. Gill started on greeting the job seekers and helping them to register. Kamal was then in charge of ushering them to the hall . As the numbers of people arriving increased we were pleased to be joined by Derrick who took over ushering so that Kamal could help in the hall and encourage people to complete feedback forms before leaving the event. The event was a great success and the organisers commented on how vital our team had been in ensuring it ran smoothly. Well done team - and we have another one next Monday afternoon, so if anyone fancies helping out for an hour or two we'd be really happy to have you on the team.