When it comes to painting walls Goodgym Nottingham are on a roll (er). Splitting resources to help out with a late request meant two (thankfully indoor) tasks were completed on a bitterly cold January evening. Peter and Rosemarie returned to The Place in Sherwood to help with laying down the first coat ahead of the joiners coming in. Paint was applied, splashes were wiped up, tea was drunk and the task owner was happy. All in all a good start to 2025!

Six of us gathered at Johnno's Mini Market to clean up litter and tidy the brick planters, to soundtrack of Taylor Swifts' 1989 album.

We swept the area clean, clearing away leaves and stray litter, while pulling out weeds to prepare space for new flowers. Meanwhile, Kathryn's daughter showcased her artistic talent by designing a snail to brighten up the garden.

We had help from Johnno's Mini Market to provide water for the plants, and bin bags for disposing of the rubbish.

With the planter ready, we added bulbs, daffodils, and strawberry plants To top it all off, the snail was placed as the finishing touch!

Last night we channelled our original GoodGym roots by combining a group run and a good deed – something that we don’t always get to do in Nottingham.

Bozena, Peter, Rosemarie and Rachel met at the Bridgeway Hall Methodist Centre to head out on a jog around the local area. It was one of those evenings when half of us were running late due to traffic and general life/work chaos, so we set off a little later than planned, but we still managed a gentle 1.15 miler led by Peter.

On return to the Bridgeway Hall, we met with Leah and first time GoodGymer Faizah and the six of us enjoyed a few stretches while we waited to start the task. At 7pm we were joined by Tom and we all headed in to meet Mark from the Meadows Foodbank who, as always, greeted us with open arms and a list of tasks that he had lined up for us.

We spent the next hour hard at work around the foodbank. Peter and Tom took on the task of sweeping and mopping all the floors in the main store area and kitchen. Rosemarie and Faizah tackled a huge pile of carrier bags, dividing them into piles based on their durability (‘bag for life’, ‘bag for a few years but not life’ (?), ‘slightly less sturdy bag’, ‘paper bag’ etc etc…).

Aided by Mark’s son, Leah squashed down a pile of cardboard to leave outside for recycling. They then moved onto packing six 2-person boxes and two children’s boxes with food and supplies. Rachel cleaned the fridges and freezers and gave the pantry area a sweep and mop.

Meanwhile, Bozena had the unique task of sorting through a pile of donated books to see which were to go on the shelf in the foodbank and which would be better donated to charity. She had a great time checking out a range of ‘classics’, including a magic book where the contents disappeared and reappeared again before our eyes!

Of course we had a group photo before we left and it was great to see so many GoodGym t-shirts on show (not always possible at this time of year when we’re all covered up). Don’t we look lovely!

Well done to Faizah for completing her first GoodGym task. It was lovely to meet you!

Thanks to Mark for hosting us once again at the Meadows Foodbank. We will make a date to come back very soon.

We may not be able to sing like Adele, but by golly can GoodGym Nottingham paint a wall!

After a last-minute task rejig, we were back with our new friends at The Place to get them another step closer to finishing their fantastic renovations.

Rosemarie and Vytautas were giving a coat of paint to some of the trunking around the two rooms, while Peter, Nigel and Leah were cutting in and rollering another coat of white paint onto the walls.

Having blitzed that pretty quickly (many hands make light work and all that), including a coat over the area we were chipping the old paint off last week, we moved on to coating the door frames with some fresh wood paint.

As always, our fabulous hosts made us a well-earned round of tea towards the end as we took a step back to admire everything. The Place is almost unrecognisable from our first visit - the team has done an amazing job and we can't wait to see the finished rooms soon! I've been assured we'll get invited to the launch party, so watch this space!