it was an earlyish start at Wardown Park this morning as we'd been asked to help with putting up a marquee at 9am. Unfortunately the person in charge of the marquee didn't arrive until after 10. So Gill, Musa and Fayemi were detailed to get started on 3 small gazebos which were done in record time. Then the fun started with three marquee kits and very poor instruction. It was like a Mensa challenge combined with Task Master and The Crystal Maze. Poles were put out, repositioned, then moved again under the direction of the task owner who had at last appeared to guide us. Our 2 hours elapsed and we had the main framework sorted for their other volunteers to complete thus afternoon. Thanks to the team for helping them get sorted.

3 Goodgymers came out to help Nine Red CiC... load some tables and chairs and a new marquee/gazebo into the back of a truck. This was all for a Community event they are taking part in this weekend. There were quite a few heavy boxes which gave us all a good upper body work out. Great effort everyone, well done 👏

This weeks group run/walk/cycle to the Luton team to 61FC, to do a bit more painting to help them prepare for the new season which is just around the corner. After meeting in the town centre and having a brief introduction session as we had Pashew with us for the first time, the 11 strong team headed off to the task. On arrival Richard from 61FC was waiting with Rollers and brushes and several pots of paint 🎨. So we split into 2 groups and painted the outside of the clubhouse and some more of the posts around the pitch. It was good fun and definitely gave us all a good arm workout. The task was also Omar 's 100th task. So we look forward to seeing him in his 🪽 t-shirt very soon. After some quick refreshments and agreeing to come back and finish the posts in a few weeks time, we headed back to town centre. This week we also have another milestone in the group, so we decided to tag a mini social on the back of the task to celebrate 🍾 our very own David who's birthday it is (age reveal in the pics). This is the perfect opportunity to shout out the man who brought Goodgym to Luton and has truly helped us go from strength to strength 💪 A real leader. Congratulations to Omar, Pashew and David and awesome job to all that attended. Well done team 👏 👍🏻 🙌 👌

Foodcycle was really well supported by Goodgym today and it was lovely to have three of our newest members swelling the ranks if the hosting team alongside some of our regulars. Gill was doing a double shift on food collection - having collected earlier in the week, she dropped of one car load of food, which was an upper body work out in itself, before reloading the car with last week's empty crates and returning them to Sainsbury's before collecting some more produce. As the cooking team were very depleted she then stayed on for an hour and a half of the cooking shift as well. Martin got stuck in with the kitchen team too and soon a delicious meal was in the process of creation. Omar was a late sign up but arrived early and was soon able to show our newbies, Susannah , Fayemi and Bauyrzhan , how to setbup the hall for our guest. as always a delicious meal was served and the hosts did a great job of making everyone feel welcome. Thanks team - Foodcycle really appreciate all you do.

3 Goodgymers helped Sam from Luton Parks department with a conservation task on Monday. It was hard work but after lots of cutting back and trimming and a little bit of litterpicking and splashing about in the river. We all had a great time

To Luton Wardown parkrun for our monthly takeover, where we aim to fill as many volunteer slots as possible to support the best and friendliest parkruns around.

This morning’s event was a sea of red as local running club Stopsley Striders was marking the completion of its 2025 beginners’ course with a graduation parkrun. We set up, marshalled and scanned barcodes, helping the Luton Wardown team to put on a hugely successful event for more than 370 parkrunners.

A great event in sweltering conditions. Luckily, ice-pops were on sale in the clubhouse afterwards!