Six Goodgymmers, Millie, Sophie, Roger, Daryl, Keith and Lea, turned up at Langside School where Nick from Diverse Abilities had a diversity of tasks for us. Roger set to jet washing a classroom and did a really good job. Millie, Sophie, Daryl and Lea shovelled pebbles into wheelbarrows to spread out on a patch under the swing. Millie soon set to filling the holes and levelling the surface. Keith, after having looked for “lost souls” and not found any, took the shears and cut back some bushes to provide better access to the play area there. Lea then swept the outside of a shed before setting to the (her pet hate) task of masking taping windows on the shed. But it meant that Millie and Sophie could get on with painting around the windows, before moving on to painting the rest of the shed. With Lea, Daryl, Keith and Roger helping we got three sides of the shed done! Oh good, now Nick will have to invite us again to finish that off! And he certainly will, judging by the “thank you” and goodiebags we received. Goodgym’s “diversity in their abilities” certainly showed itself today and hopefully will do so again on a few more occasions. Thank you everyone for your hard work. Mind you, it was not all hard work: the bouncing mat and the musical instruments definitely provided some fun.

Daryl greeted us at the start point for the March for Men, but feeling awful… he had to go back home to bed. That left Keith and Lea to represent Goodgym as marshalls for the March for Men. What a perfect day for it. Our marshalling point was the turning point for the 5k. We set off in our high vis jackets with our sign and our cow bells. The first runner turned up 9 mins after the start, yikes, running past us to do the 10k. Then more runners and more walkers turned up, some turning round, visibly relieved to see the turning point signs. Lots of high fives, lots of smiles, lots of thumbs up and even a red rose from a lion for Lea! Kudos to all the people doing their bit for prostate cancer. Not many photos as we were too busy ringing our bells. Fun fact: On our way back home we saw the partial eclipse of the sun....

Seven Goodgymers meet at Muscliffe Park to help the Parks Foundation set up for the Holi event they helped put on for the Hindu community put on to bring every one together to celebrate Holi and all the colour's . We started by helping to put up gazebos and fencing round the DJ 's gazebo.A group went off to find some sticks so some ribbons could be tied to them for the children could wave them, another group went off to pick some petals to be placed in windows cut out of card we did so much in helping to get this event up and running. My what an event it was full of colour dancing and lovely food.The parks foundation could not thank us enough for all our help.

Five Goodgymmers, Sophie, Millie, Emma, Keith and Lea, turned up at the directed location…. Where are we supposed to be?! Janet (on the phone), Mr Google and a six minute walk got us to the right door to knock on. Up the stairs we went to find two Ikea flatpacks waiting for us. After the unpacking phase, on to the instructions phase onto the screwing and hammering phase. With Millie, the Ikea flatpack specialist, and Sophie, the instruction booklet expert, we all got to work swiftly and efficiently. Everyone had a go at hammering and screwing, lifting and shifting. With the first wardrobe completed and set up in the right corner, a welcome quick tea break followed, after which wardrobe number two was screwed together and set up in no time. Next week a refugee family from Afghanistan will move in. Judging by the fairy bedlinen and the football and tractor bedlinen: two girls and two boys. A very satisfying task, and what’s more, ICN is keen to get us involved in more tasks.