This week we walked and ran from the town centre to the Ferndale allotment on Dallow Downs.

Many of the plots have been out of use for some time and needed a clean up to remove all the old debris, bits of old wood, plastic and metal littered the site but we gathered it all up, sorted it into piles for later collection by the council. We may have munched a few ripe blackberries and raspberries while we were there!

With a big team combing the site we got it all clean and tidy in just a single session, leaving the place looking much more attractive and less like a rubbish tip (or will do when our pile is collected and disposed of! Now its clear and clean the council will be able to advertise the vacant plots to people wanting to grow their own vegetables! 🍆 🥒🥦🌽🥬🧅🥕🫛🫑🧄🥔

It's Tuesday night so it must be FoodCycle for some of the regulars in GoodGym who enjoy teaming up with the other FoodCycle volunteers to help ensure the smooth running of the community meal.

This evening was no different.

Gill started the session early with a trip to Sainsburys to pick up a mountain of food surplus. After unlocking the church and doing the usual checks, she then unloaded the crates of food and got them all weighed and sorted before the others arrived. The kitchen team, joined by Martin and Gill were soon busy peeling, chopping and prepping another delicious three course meal. Ruth and Abdo arrived to set up the hall: setting out tables, filling the urn, putting out the cloths and cutlery and making sure everything was ready to greet the guests. And of course Abdo was on hand to ensure the menu was written up and suitably decorated. Mehdi had also arrived to help and joined us later for the meal. They were then kept busy serving the guests and washing up afterwards.

It's hard work, but good fun and fabulous team work. FoodCycle are very appreciative of all the help GoodGym provides. They couldn't do it without us. Well done all.

Today 2 Luton Goodgymers helped local volunteers at Breakfast Battery Boxes support families in need of a little help over the summer holidays, by packing and distributing food parcels. This was day one of the summer project for the BBBs team and it was great to see that they had so many willing volunteers who were able to support. Well done to all the volunteers, it was a pleasure to work alongside you today

This week we were massively boosted in number as newbie Reza brought loads of friends along to try out their first GoodGym session!

With expected numbers doubled we had an army of people heading across town to help the 61 Football Club get their clubhouse and grounds ready for the start of the new season.

Runners arriving first got started on the first task, raking up the fresh cut grass, while later arrivals were issues with gloves and paint brushes to paint the stand walls red, then we had a team painting the posts around the pitch bright white, and finally our man Musa was given the job of blue gloss on the new railings.

With so many people going at the tasks they were getting done super quick and we could move them on to new areas to get even more good stuff done.

When our time was up the place was visibly much cleaner and brighter and Cliff and Richard were as grateful as ever, offering much welcome crisps and drinks around before the return leg of the journey back into town.

We had a great team supporting Foodcycle tonight, and it was lovely to have two of our regular GoodGymers making their debut at FoodCycle. Musa joined Gill and Martin in the kitchen and was soon stuck into preparing peppers and other veg for the stir fry. Gill and Martin meanwhile got working in a delicious apple and pear Charlotte for dessert. When the hosting team arrive it was great to welcome Yasin for his first FoodCycle session and Derrick was soon showing him the ropes. He even hot him writing out the menu! It was FoodCycle's 2nd birthday so after the guests had gone all the volunteers were celebrated with cake and kind words from the manager. There were special mentions of GoodGym as Nisa recognised the great support that GoodGym has given to this project to keep it going each week. We were also pleased to meet a new volunteer who had signed up to Foodcycle after receiving a flyer through her door from one of our flyering tasks.

Well done to all Goodgym members who have volunteered at FoodCycle over the past year. Your support has been greatly appreciated.