A smaller group went back to Ray Mill Island on what was a relatively cooler evening than previous visits!

The team there has started putting irrigation in place, so we won't need to water plants anymore #selfreliance. We got stuck in where we left them previously - cutting out logs from a pile of bush for them to be put next to the river stream.

Mike already knew what to do and was straight into it with his very sharp saw. Roberta, Didem, and Diya weren't entirely sure how best to saw but a new skill was unlocked very quickly, and we were soon in the thick of it. Teamwork makes the dream work!

Once we had a full trolley of various lengths of wood, Nivvi navigated it to the stream where task owner Shoshan laid them on the bank. The idea is to create a kind of a barrier to prevent the public from going into the water. We now know what tethering logs mean!

Seven GoodGymmers gathered on Raymill Island for a double‑mission evening of watering and repainting.

We were welcomed by Nivi and Shoshan from the Friends of Raymill Island, and wasted no time getting stuck in. First up: helping Shoshan haul a few stray logs out of the stream — an early warm‑up before the main tasks began.

With the logs sorted, the group split into two teams. Sol and Jess took on the watering challenge, ferrying bucket after bucket from the stream to thirsty flower beds and planters. It turned into a full‑body workout!

Meanwhile, Meggie, Katie and Nicola breathed new life into the Ladybird Hopscotch, carefully repainting each cheerful bug. Mike tackled the rainbow, restoring every colour so it shone brightly once again.

By the end, the whole area looked refreshed and revived. Passers‑by stopped to thank us and commented on how much better the space looked — always lovely to hear.

A job well done, and we’ll be back next week to help Shoshan tether the logs so they stay put and don’t end up in the stream again!

Our group of dozen of Goodgymers and first time Wednesday session leader Anne-Laure were happily participating in refreshing the beautiful drawings on the ground of Ray Mill Island. Organised by our lovely Nivi, the painting involved finding the right colours to match the drawings made last year by the same Goodgymers. The weather was lovely, the vibe was great, the quest to find the perfect red colour unfortunately failed. But it didn't stop everyone to recreate the beautiful letters, drawings and games. The rainbow ended up very personalised.

The evening finished with not just one but two celebrations! Roberta celebrated her 100th good deed and Rachel her (unofficial) 250th. Well done to them! Rachel spoilt us (again) with her amazing skills of baking and her creative poem writing.

A successful session, 2 amazing cakes and beautiful colours on the island! The good gymmers have spread a little bit more of joy in Maidenhead!

Goodgym duty today was continuing to weed the winter heliotrope from the main bed and rockery without stepping foot on the rockery.

There was plenty of it encroaching onto the path to tackle and it was very therapeutic listening to the water from the fountain trickling and the geese and ducks quacking.

Anne Laure and Jen were tasked with clearing all the 'woody bits' from the dry hedge zone, adding them to the dry hedge and finishing off by adding the teasles for decoration.

Meanwhile Nivi supervised the work going on in the nursery area by the DofE volunteers and captured everyone's efforts for social media.

Sheila and I were outnumbered by non GG volunteer Friends of Ray Mill Island today. Whilst Sheila got stuck in to sorting the donated plants by type, I joined a small team moving wooden boards from the paddleboarders round to the nursery.

Next we all relocated to the kiosk and rockery areas where Shoshan had placed plants in pots ready for us to plant them in the ground and water them. With a bit of weeding the Heliotrope it was a very green fingered session.