"Wilted" was the word that came to mind when brainstorming, as Lisa, Sheila, Neeta and myself met at the Community Allotment to tend to the plants on such a hot and dry summer evening. 🌞🥵🥵🌾🌾 We gave the wilting veggies a good drink of water, we couldn't refill the water butts because the tap top went missing and it's whereabouts is still a mystery, and then moved on to doing some weeding. It was really good to welcome back Neeta to GoodGym, after a long time. She's brought along her two furry babies, Coco and Bella, who both kept a watchful eye on us, while we were going about our gardening tasks. Since Neeta didn't want to be photographed, I took the opportunity to post a photo of Bella... or was it Coco?... I hope they don't mind. 🐾🐶

Five GoodGymers went to help at the Baby Bank this morning on a baking hot day. We started with an unusual request - to cut back the bushes in the car park so that the signs indicating the designated car parking spaces could be seen and stop any car parking wars breaking out with the other users on site. With a slightly dodgy pair of secateurs we did our best and managed to free up the signs on 4 car parking spaces. We then joined Karen and Helen doing our bread and butter activity - good old clothes sorting Kudos to those who decided to uphold the GoodGym ideals - Sheila K ran, Carol walked and Sheila A cycled to the task

Six goodGymers met in Desborough Park on a warm summer evening. The ground had been baked solid so the task had changed from digging a garden bed to cutting ivy and litter picking. The task owner was suddenly taken ill so couldn't make it. There we were, clueless and directionless but in true GoodGym fashion, we made something out of nothing!

Angela and Viv got started on litter picking, accompanied by the very clever Flora (the way she persisted to find that tennis ball inside the dense bush was applause worthy!). Jess, Kanika and Diya got started on trimming the ivy around the community centre building. Joanne from Wild Maidenhead and Councillor Jack advised we cut the stems 1.5mt from the ground and the tops would just wither and fall off. Jack and Joanne then proceeded to water the beds at the top of the park.

Kanika set high standards with an impressive, clear line where she had cut the ivy. Jess promptly followed in her footsteps creating an admirable line. Diya definitely came last in this neatness category!

Ivy trimming was hard work - dry, dusty, not easily accessible but we made a fair go at it. Viv and Angela joined us after a round of litter picking and relieved our tired arms.

It might not look like much but we got there in the end!

Bootifull in so many ways. A van-load of plants that had been used for the show plot at Hampton Court Flower Show needed to be unloaded back at Nature's Haven. Unfortunately the van had broken down in Cookham, but the contents still needed to be brought home. Claire managed to borrow a pick-up truck and arrived at the community centre with the boot full to the brim with plants. Many of the plants were planted in welly boots. Sheila, Angela and Jack helped unload all of the plants of all shapes and sizes. While Angela and Sheila watered them all, Jack and Claire went off for a second load. Eventually they were all off the truck, given a good drink and await planting in their new home

This what3words is not only Sheila's marshalling point for the Windsor Parallel race, but also pretty much summarising the day so far. Meggie, Sheila, Agnija and myself have volunteered for this year's Windsor Parallel Festival. Sheila and myself have been assigned to marshaling, while Meggie ran the 10km race, as well as volunteering before and after. A huge cheer to her, and also to Sheila, who's marshalled for the Junior Park run in Maidenhead first thing in the morning and then cycled to Windsor!!! I've been stationed near the Avengers House, they have been filming here... shame I don't know much about it, I'll have to look it up. We'll be soon heading back to the festival.
Agnija has joined the volunteers group at the last minute and she was assigned to directing the traffic in the car park, doing a wonderful job of it! Well done everyone!!! I'm sure there is something for everyone here, I've seen earlier today cute animals being brought in, the stage being set-up, the stalls, the mayor arriving, all ready for everyone to have fun and chill.

Six GoodGymers set their alarm clocks for first light, and made their way to Ray Mill Island for one of our favourite events of the year. About 160 athletes were braving a swim down the Thames, and the organisers needed some help ensuring that everyone set off safely and that their belongings got to the correct locations. Sara, Sophie, Richard and Sheila collected in the swimmers' flip-flops, making sure that they were in the correct bag according to which distance they were swimming so they could be dropped at the point where they would exit the water. David was in charge of car key drop-off, putting them in labelled envelopes so they could retrieve them at the end. Claire and Sophie were helping distribute string to tie flip flops together Then after the safety briefing, they were ready for the off. Each swimmer's number was logged as they entered the water. GoodGymers Amy and Amanda were taking part in the swim so it was lovely to be able to see them off. Once the 1.4 and 2.8 km swimmers had left, it was over to the other side of the lock to help the Heritage 5km route swimmers who were exiting the water, running over to the island and entering the water for the second half of their swim. Again there were some familiar faces - well done to Jen and Alain for taking on this epic challenge. Claire and Sara did a great job of ensuring they all followed the right route. Once the last of the swimmers had been dispatched we helped tidy up and walked to the rowing club where swimmers could collect their Tshirts and belongings. David, Sophie and Claire helped swimmers exit the water while Sara enjoyed the task of hosing down the swimmers' feet. One participant declared the experience to be 'bordering on the orgasmic'! We think he may have swallowed too much of the Thames water! Everyone was grateful for the clean-up and left happy. We had certainly enjoyed it too. We left the site just as the rest of Maidenhead was just waking up! Well done to David on his first GoodGym community mission - do come and join us again.