Tuesday 24th February, five Goodgymers rocked up to Colliers football ground in Kersley End, Home of the Coventrians FC. I biked it up a good uphill work out ! The road closure didn't slow us down too much as Laura, Lucy, Sharon, Nigel, Matt and I made it there. To meet Jane and John who put in a lot of work to keep the place ticking over. Tonight's tasks: painting the changing rooms and clearing the trophy room. Four of us opted for the painting Laura and Lucy got the proper gear, overalls an’ all. Matt and I were on the cutting in, while Laura and Lucy were on the rollers. Getting as much done as possible, cos it'll need a few coats!

The dogs Lily and Derek were there again, and Lily doesn't care what you’re doing—she’ll drop her tennis ball anywhere for you to throw. But being inside that wasn’t going to happen, especially with paint around. Luckily no dogs got painted! Nigel and Sharon got busy on the cleaning, dusting down the trophies 🏆, wiping shelving, tables, and giving the floors a good old sweep. John, Jane and Paul have been doing loads there, but still need ongoing support to keep the place tip-top for the community. So Goodgym will visit again on the 10th March. Great work everyone 🙌

Nigel and james, joined members of the springboardteam to conplete various tasks including...propergators cleaned,and first seeds sown woodchip collected and path dug and turned from muddy to lovely 😍 a long patch mostly weeded and raspberry bushes dug out compost turned, compost collected and used lots of great conversations with a cuppa, homemade cakes and biscuits .**

Saturday afternoon—the weather not too bad for February! Three Goodgymers came along to help out with the Swanswell Park and pond clean-up. Sharon, Steve, and myself joined a great bunch of people from different volunteering groups from around Coventry. The event was organised by Tatyana a volunteer who wanted to make a difference to her community! Great to meet up with like-minded people—nineteen showed up to litter-pick round the whole park and in the water. Twenty-one bags of rubbish and one shopping trolley. The park looked a whole lot better, and I'm sure the people , swans, ducks, and all the wildlife will be a lot happier!

Felt like Christmas again at our monthly visit to Carries of Hope! Six Goodgymers rolled up to help out: Georgia, Lucy, Laura, Sharon, Nigel, and myself. The awesome Michelle and Danni were there to greet us and guide us through our task. We all helped get the toys and games—donated before Christmas—to kids for presents. The ones that didn’t go, we took off the shelves, reorganised into categories and ages, labelled, and bagged up ready for next year! Nigel dodged the doo, Georgia was on the naughty list, but everyone else behaved and we finished in good time. Awesome guys 🙌

5 Coventry Goodgymers went to Clothing Coventry for our monthly sorting session. Our task for the evening was to move and sort boxes of clothes and shoes into different sizes so that they are ready for clients to collect. Well done everyone, we will be back at Clothing Coventry next month for more sorting fun!

On Saturday, seventh of February, I set off to Kersley Village to help out the Coventrians FC. Weather was grim at first, rain pelting down as I made way. Lucky for me, clouds cleared right when I arrived up at the football ground. Beautiful pitches, a bit waterlogged though—some games had been called off! I met up with Jane, John and the friendly dogs, energetic Lillie and Derek a bit older so not quite as spritely as Lillie! We started off with a coffee ☕️😍 before rolling up the sleeves to get stuck in. Today's job helping with the fencing which has taken a few months to do so far. John and I started loading out the fencing ready to be nailed on, and then Paul arrived and we cracked on to get quite a lot done, working well together. Between us three, the fencing job nearly completed and John was planning to finish the gate on Sunday. As well we had the fearless Lillie bounding around non-stop, dropping the ball for you to throw here there and everywhere—it was a joy to see. A good couple of hours work and the first task completed for Coventrians FC.