Luton Goodgymers were out today supporting the Shri Guru Ravidass Sangat Gudwara with the smooth running of the anniversary celebrations of the birth of the temples 🛕 guru and the presentation of the the Kings award for voluntary services. 5 of the Luton team took part in a procession with drummers, carrying a large banner and other decorative effects. Part of the celebration involves replacing the flag outside the Gudwara, this is called the Nishan Sahib and when the new flag was raised our team were in charge of letting off confetti cannons. The temple presented Goodgym Luton with a certificate of recognition for the ongoing support we have given to the temple which has helped them in their bid to be awarded the King's award for voluntary services. This was a great session to be a part of. Well done today team 👏

We had a mix of runners and walkers this week for a visit to Shri Guru Ravidass Sangat Gurdwara. The walkers headed straight there while the runners took a small diversion to run a couple of laps of Brantwood Park to add a bit of distance to the otherwise very short journey.

At the temple we were helping prepare for the weekend's festivities celebrating the Anniversary of the birth of the Guru, so we were giving the place a good deep clean upstairs and downstairs.

Vacuuming, wiping down surfaces, mopping floors, moving furniture, scrubbing the kitchen, we did it all working alongside some other helpers from the Gurdwara and the place was left spotless!

Tonight, 3 Goodgymers from Luton helped a local community group from the Shri Guru Ravidass Sangat temple celebrate the New Year and reflect on all their achievements from the last 12 months. This task involved setting up tables, clearing down and packing away tables and chairs and ticking off names on the door as people entered. There was music, food and drink and we were also invited to present 2 of the 4 awards that were given to some of the volunteers that work so hard to support the group with all they do in the community. Whilst Duncan and I were doing our best Max and Paddy impression, Omar was helping out in the kitchen. I think we had a positive impact on the evening and we look forward to helping them out again soon. Great work guys. We'll done

it was the final session from this season's cooking and community sessions at the Gurudwara and once again Goodgymers were on hand to enable the success if the evening - welcoming, hosting, cooking and washing up alongside the women in the temple to provide and enjoy a delicious meal. The meal started with crispy cauliflower pakora which we all enjoyed, before getting stuck into the various tasks. There was chick pea curry to prepare, a vegetable pilau, and of course a larhe mountain of rotis which we are getting quite good at now. There were many guests from across the community including the High Sheriff of Bedfodshire. Well done team, it was a lovely evening for all. We shall miss our Monday nights...

Tonight the Shri Guru Ravidass Sangat temple in Luton held their 3rd curry cooking class as part of the near neighbours funded project they are currently running. 9 of Luton Goodgyms finest were there to support with hosting the event. Preparing, cooking and eating food as well as washing up and tidying away. Everyone got stuck in from buttering roti to laying out plates, there was a job for everyone. Well done team 👏, keep doing Luton proud 👏

This week our group run was in partnership with This Girl Can's #LetsLiftTheCurfew campaign.

Now the clocks have changed the evenings are darker and this puts many women off exercising outside in the evenings as it can feel unsafe to do so.

GoodGym is a safe space to exercise outside in a friendly group throughout the winter months and so to spread the word, and encourage more women to join forces reclaim the streets at night, we decorated ourselves with bright lights ready for a colourful run around town on the way to our task.

We welcomed Arthur to his very first session with GoodGym and Luqman who had done a couple of community missions but hadn't attended a group run before. It was lovely to meet them both and have two new faces on the Wednesday night team! They both looked great with their lights on and did a great job running around town with us.

Our colourful lights were doubly appropriate for the occasion because it is Diwali and our task for the evening was helping the Sikh temple prepare for Diwali celebrations at the end of the week. We arrived ready to help give the kitchen a deep clean, mop the floors. vacuum the carpets and generally give the whole temple an autumn clean.

With nine of us working away we did a really thorough job and were rewarded with hot cups of chai before we departed to illuminate the dark streets once again to finish off our evening.