Nine Goodgymers set to work tidying and sweeping the back garden at Mencap. Sheila, Viv, Jess Mike and Georgetta weeded, trimned and swept the planter area with lightning speed! Roberta, Ben and Sol dug out weeds and tidied the area near the shed. After yet more sweeping and moss removal the garden is ready for the mencap community and the warmer weather! The evening was rounded off by celebrating Angela's 100 th good deed with a wonderful poem and cake from Amy and Sheila.

....and here is Amy hijacking Angela's report to share the poem:

Angela Shaw: A grade A GoodGymer, to be sure!

Active and athletic!

Altruistic and able!

Agile and adaptable!

So amazing, that even without one of her ‘A’s

She’s an angel.

The only problem with Angela

Is that finding rhymes is a challenge, er…

And the word angel

Is also hard for a poet to wrangle.

Her amazing achievements we cannot ignore,

So thank goodness for her last name, Shaw,

Which rhymes easily with words galore!

Angela’s good deeds now number twenty and fourscore

(Which means 100 in the language of yore)

If she has a spare moment, she doesn’t snore.

She’ll go to Nature’s Haven and sand a door!

She’ll shovel sludge to work her core,

And clear away brambles til her hands are sore.

She’ll give foodshare donations to the store,

But on Balsam and Ragwort she’s waging war!

She picks up litter, she sweeps the floor

And she tidies up plastic from the sea shore!

She put the lantern parade leaflet through your door

And doesn’t even mind a pothole chore!

On paddleboard or bike she loves to explore.

And her cycle abilities are really top drawer:

She teaches bike safety to kids in year 4

And even support rides with Peggy the tri-shaw!

So let’s hear it for this legend of local folklore,

Our faith in humanity she does restore,

Hip hip hooray for Angela Shaw!

5 GoodGymers met at the Community Allotment on a most beautiful evening. Jess took on the task of watering all the crops that she could find - I'm sure they were very grateful for the drink. Meanwhile Angela, Georgeta, Roberta and Sheila found their inner Engineers and constructed a frame for the climbing beans which are due to be planted tomorrow. We stuck the poles in as deep as we could using the metal stakes and hammers provided to make holes, so hopefully we now have a sturdy structure. We then split up - Angela and Roberta bagged up the soil from the fig container which had succumbed to fig mosaic virus. Georgeta ( on shovelling duty), Jess (wheelbarrower extraordinaire) and Sheila (spade-wielder) filled up the spare planter with soil and mature horse manure, ready for planting. Another productive session!

10 GoodGymers gathered at the Riverside family hub on a perfect Spring evening to take on the wish list prepared by the task owner. We love a well organised task!

In true GoodGym spirit, we tackled the "Extra hard challenge" first: a very heavy bug hotel which needed moving. Very quickly the group decided this was futile. Even if we could move the bug hotel, it wouldn't go through the gate. The task owner and all present concurred the best thing was to build a new one in the wildlife garden. Maybe we'll get called back for that fun task!

We dispersed onto other things then:

• Viv, Angela and Roberta attacked the bindweed covering the gravel by the main gate.
• Julie took to de-weeding the tractor-tyres-turned-planters and then onto bindweed as well.
• Tony, Sheila, Kanika and Diya weeded the veg patch, the gravel area and the pond side.
• Amy and Jess gave the deck and benches a good scrub.

Once the hard work was done, it was time for some play! Amy and Kanika stretched out on the...mounds (?), Amy did planks on the plank and pretty soon, a circuit took shape! There was running, step ups, tricep pushes and some other activities which involved jumping and a lot of laughing.

Task owner Heather had very kindly set out some refreshments for us. We enjoyed delicious fruits and beverages which was a perfect end to a productive mission.

8 determined GoodGymers met at one of our favourite venues, Nature's Haven to see what our taskowners Claire and Aleks had in store for us. While they borrowed Tony to consult on greenhouse construction, the others set to work on tidying up the shrubs at the back of the Community Centre. With forks, secateurs, spades and loppers we set about removing the Sycamore saplings, bindweed and snowberry bushes. We amassed a huge amount of green waste which we managed to stuff into the Green Bin with the aid of some special trampling by Tony. We were kindly treated to tea and biscuits afterwards, and we look forward to another visit soon!

Angela and Sheila went to help with weeding of a large flower bed just outside the park, which has been taken on by one of the residents. This was a second session, and was concentrating on defining the edges and taking the grasses out which were engulfing the other plants. There are some lovely plants in there, and in a few weeks will be looking fabulous. Hats off to Sarah, our taskowner for taking this on, and creating such a beautiful environment for the residents