10 GoodGymers headed to Searchlight for our regular Tuesday session to give the kitchen and approach to the building a thorough deep clean.

Searchlight Community Centre is a great facility, used by Mencap and other local groups. With a visit from the environmental health inspectors due, they reached out for our help.

GoodGymer Martel, who frequently volunteers at Searchlight, was able to give everyone a good briefing on what was needed.

Claire, Jana, Jassy, Rachel, Emma and Dave all helped in the kitchen - clearing out and cleaning the cupboards and the fridge, and dusting and scrubbing all the surfaces and floor.

Meanwhile Tom, Jade and Sabir rolled up their sleeves and weeded outside. They importantly also cut back the branches obscuring the Searchlight signage on the main road, so this vital community facility can be found more easily by its many visitors!

A highlight of the evening was congratulating and ‘crowning’ Sabir on achieving 50 good deeds - what a community hero!

Some of us finished off the evening with a group run back to the Quaker Centre - while those who had cycled to the task headed straight for home.

Tonight Claire, Rachel, Julie and Dave started with a warm up before running over to Searchlight where we were joined by Luke en route.

Emily, Jade, Petra and Sabir joined us there where Martel explained our task. We were required to do some heavy duty weeding to clear a bed so that flax could be grown as part of a Ukrainian refugee project by community groups. It will then be harvested to make a community patchwork.

We all got stuck in; Luke removed a massive plant whilst the rest is us tackled the long grass and rubbish.

Meanwhile Dave looked at how they could make a raised bed for wheelchair users.

After an hour the weeds were on the compost heap and once dug over the bed will be ready for planting.

It really was wet wet wet for this evening's task but a little rain won't stop our intrepid GoodGymers from getting out and doing good! Tonight we were at the Searchlight Centre, a funtion space used by many local charities and organisations. The task was to make a good start on painting one of the function rooms in the building.

After a run / walk / ride in the rain to get to the task, 7 of us set to the task in hand. First things first we needed to prep the walls, cover the floor and move all furniture to the middle of the room. Once ready, we set to work painting, changing the colour from a tired magnolia to a fresh and functional white.

Many hands meant we made a good start on the room - still a bit to do but more volunteers getting involved over the weekend to finish up. Mission complete.

Tonight we were off to Searchlight to help out GoodGym member Martel and the other trustees.

The runners made it just in time before the heavens opened whilst others had a little shower on their walks and cycle rides over.

Martel explained the challenge. Empty a large office and fit it into a smaller one and move the drums from the small room to the large one to give the drumming group their own room.

We split into 2 groups; one group emptying the drums out of their storage room and the other emptying the office. We found all sorts of things including a hobby horse, spray paint and broken chair legs to name a few.

Having cleared out lighter items it was time for the heavy lifting. Tom, Petra and Julie moved the desk, whilst Emma helped with the safe shuffle. Petra and Julie’s gym sessions definitely paid off as they managed to lift a filing cabinet between the rooms.

Once empty Jade gave the office a good hoover then Emily and Claire started to put drums in.

We converted the small room into an office working out how to fit all the furniture in and sorted the items we had taken out of the old office until everything had a home.

A quick spot of drumming whilst we had a photo (we won’t give up the day jobs!) and it was time to head in to the drizzle on our runs, walks and cycle rides. A big shout out to Luke who ran all the way to the postcode but couldn't find the entrance! Hopefully we've figured out a way to get in touch next time there's an issue with directions.

A first time task for Farzeen and Wai joining our Mencap members to make some valentine crafts and cards ready for the big day next week. There was plenty of members needing our help to cut stick and decorate wooden hearts, heart dream catchers and cards to secretly hide away from those whom they wanted to send their love ❤️ on Valentine’s Day

Monday night activity night at Mencap and an extra opportunity to get creative. Helping to make Valentine's cards and decorations was great fun with many hearts being shared across the 2 designs. There's another session on Saturday if you don't want to miss out, sign up now.