Thursday 6:15pm is GoodGym Windsor Night! 👑🏃‍♂️🏃🏻‍♀️

Tonight we were helping Braywood School digging a child safe pond 🐸 and planting a willow tree.

Jen and Mandy met at the Greene Oak pub for a social drink … oops no I mean walk/run to the task. While others Didem, Caroline, Angela and Sue met us at the school. Where we were met by the task owner Head Teacher Susan and TA Julie (of whom we may have a new recruit 🙏🏻 ).

Welcome to Angela as it was her first Thursday evening session with Windsor 👑🏃‍♂️🏃🏻‍♀️ 👏🏻 but she’s a GG regular with lots of other good deeds under her belt.

Congratulations to Sue for her 10th official Goodgym session although I know she does much more than she lets on… and she is our own little mobile tool station … thank you Sue ♥️

On to the task …. We love a challenge and it didn’t take long for us to get started.

How many GoodGymers does it take to dig a pond? Not that many 💪🏻

Fantastic team effort pond-ering where we start, measuring up, digging, levelling, checking, then a bit more digging (avoiding the surprise pipe we unearthed 😬) all on repeat until it was just right.

Some redistributed in many different styles (using pits, bags, dragging or shuttle running lumps) all the excess soil away to other planters of under hedgerow to ensure the great quality soil was put to good use.

Once the hole was dug, a layer of sand was spread to ensure the pond was stable. We then will filled round the edges to make it totally secure and added the metal safety grill cover.

In the midst of all that a cute little Willow tree was planted in the corner by Mandy so as the pond gets establish the tree will bring a place for more wildlife for the children to learn about.

After the task in true GoodGym style we had a cheeky play in the playground and on the trim trail.

Lovely evening and lots of fitness with the birds singing and truly worthwhile task.

We said our goodbyes and did the Windsor curtsy and made our way home.

As always thank you all for coming 👑👏🏻👏🏻 and to Bekah as even though not at the task she’s helping with the socials ♥️

5 Goodgymers met with taskowner Karen and one other volunteer at Spital Cemetery. Sue had already done a recce and identified an area that needed some attention. Some Leylandii trees had totally overgrown some graves, hiding them completely from view. Matthew and Scarlett took on the area that Scarlett had been working on last time, whilst Maggie, Sue and Sheila tackled a different area. It was loppers to the fore, and before long we had cleared huge piles of branches. We uncovered several graves, which hadn't seen the light of day for quite some time. Great work, on such a warm day, and we filled 4 dumpy bags full of branches

Thursday 6:15pm is GoodGym Windsor Night! 👑🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️

Tonight we were doing a double bill with not one but two acts of kindness 👏🏻 💪🏻

Helen ( who had just run the London Marathon 🏃🏻‍♀️ 👏🏻🎖️), Devon and Mandy met at The Binoy for a social run and Sue, Adam and Margaret (her debut GoodGym session 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻) met us at the task.

Then the show began …. Or was it a circus 🤣

For our first act we met our task owner Anne at Busy Buttons (St Agnes Church) and Anne kindly showed us the church garden. We de-weeded the gravel drains, broke down and moved some old wooden furniture and other rubbish to the front of the church to be collected and swept/made tidy. Devon even did a bit of guttering clearance !

After the interval (as in us hot footing to the pathway near the church with our belongings) we got to work for our second task. We had done some work here in the dark but we had not quite finished it so we did that tonight. Devon and Adam had a great technique and were very neat and precise and polished. Mandy less so 🤣 she kept getting her lines all wrong 🤣 although Helen did keep her in check. Sue and Margaret attached the brambles. We filled three bags which is amazing in the time we had.

Soon it was time for the final curtain and we took a bow, gave ourselves an huge round of applause and made our way home.

Thank you all as always Windsor GGs 👑 ♥️👏🏻

On a beautiful sunny morning, 6 Goodgymmers met up with Karen Davies at Spital Cemetery for one of their regular clean-up sessions. Although Margaret has been helping out at the cemetery for a long time, this was her first session under the Goodgym banner, so welcome! We set about clearing some huge piles of branches and grass left by an unknown person, who had been spotted clearing some graves so he could take an image of the inscriptions. Unfortunately he left a trail of devastation behind him, which needed clearing away. Sue and Margaret worked on one area, while Matthew, Scarlett, Sheila and Tessa worked in another. Matthew started chopping up the branches already left by the side of the headstone, putting them in a dumpy bag, while Sheila and Tessa tackled cutting down the remains of the bush. We realised as we worked, that it was the 75-year anniversary of the death of the lady who the grave belonged to - Bessie Nicholls died on 25th April 1949. The bush was a pyracantha, which was extremely prickly and difficult to deal with, but Matthew was up to the task and bashed and cajoled it into submission. We disturbed a beautiful yellow moth, which was later identified as a brimstone moth. Scarlett worked on a different grave, that of Edith Wilcocks who also died in 1949. By the end of the session, an incredible 6 dumpy bags had been filled, and are awaiting collection by Tivoli. Great work by the team to get the cemetery looking tidy again.

Thursday 6:15pm is GoodGym Windsor Night! 👑🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️

Tonight we were helping The Windsor Boys’ School Boat Club filling potholes along the track and cutting some plants back. The track is used to transport the rowing boats on trailers from their storage areas to the river and potholes can cause damage to the boats.

Bekah and Mandy ran to meet the walkers - Caroline, Didem and Sue at Sutherland Grange and Adam met us at the task.

Ryan our Cox for the evening was at the ready with spades, shovels, rakes, lots of rocks/gravel/stones and some gardening equipment.

Mandy put the noughties dance tunes on the radio . Adam took possession of the wheelbarrow. Sue’s eyes lit up when she heard the word pruning and she was happily lost in the jungle 🌿 for a majority of the session. The rest of the crew grabbed a spade and launched into hunting for holes 🕳️ and fill with gravel. We made our way from the entrance up the track to the river. Each filled pothole needed stomping down and raking over to get a good level surface. There was a bit of shuttle walking/running going on as we had to get the gravel from the pile and take it to the holes. Lots of exercise for all the group tonight and a lovely view of the Thames and some rowers. Looking back at the completed track was hole- y ful- filling. We had to drag Sue away from the shrubs ( she’s hardcore!) as it was time for our end of session curtsy.

On the way back we waved at a stranger 👋🏻 thinking it was Adam 🤣 the poor man though we were potty 😂

We said our goodbyes and made our way home.

Thank you all as always Windsor GGs 👑 ♥️👏🏻