Sheila and myself did some gardening this afternoon, to help Mr J get his garden back to it's former glory. We hope we've achieved that, please refer to the Before and After photos ... 😀 The task involved mainly weeding in the back garden. I've found the hoe very useful, not a tool I was familiar with; now I may have to get one. The garden looks much tidier, and Mr J and Teddy, his little dog, were both very grateful for our help.

Five Goodgymers helped out at the Baby Bank this morning, including Winnie for whom this was her very first community mission, and Sue who was returning for her second. We all settled down to quality checking the clothes donations, with Winnie quickly learning the ropes. Great progress was made, but as ever, plenty of donations were still coming as we worked so there will still be plenty to do next week! Thanks to Winnie for adding these comments: The briefing was clearly given It's easy to get on and volunteers/staff from the organization are very friendly too. I am impressed with the organized systems to make sure the donated materials can be in use in a most decent, efficient and respectful way.

Overall, it is an enjoyable experience.

Six GoodGymers got together at Ray Mill Island to tackle a variety of tasks. While Mick moved some rocks around to edge the path, everyone else started weeding the heliotrope from the rockery. Once the wheelbarrow was free, Jen and Sheila went to get some compost to fill the GoodGym planters. Anna and Mick dug out some old hedging plants while Anne-Laure and Christine heroically continued with the weeding. Lastly a hawthorn tree was carefully dug out and transplanted to the nursery area. Well done to everyone

After a short winter break, Nature's Haven is up and running again and there is lots to do! After a short tour around the estate, we all picked an area we wanted to work on. I tackled the grass and weeds in the orchard area. It was lovely to be back with the other volunteers and working in a wonderful patch of sunlight

6 GoodGymers helped out at the Baby Bank for another busy session. Welcome back to Winnie for her second session, and Sue for her third. Sue, Winnie and Jane were in charge of doing the first checks on clothing donations, keeping Karen busy doing a secondary check and storing them away in the correct boxes. Carol and Sheila were asked to sort out all the socks. Firstly we had to move half the crates of shoes in order to accommodate the sock shelving and then it was on to the sorting. We labelled up the boxes for the different sizes and then made sure that all the socks were new and in the correct boxes ( SO many ladies tights!). More difficult than it sounds, but we managed to finish the task by the end of the session and hopefully it will make finding the right socks easier in future

There may be litter everywhere but these GoodGym-ers aren't willing to give up! Well done to everyone who collected bags and bags of litter off their local streets 👏