Marshalling the Love Luton Run Fest was our third and final Run Fest volunteering session, after delivering road closure notices and packing the volunteer bags.

We were stationed at a point where we got to see all the fresh faced runners heading out and the sweaty ones coming back in again so double chance to cheer people along! DJ Duncan brought the music and we all joined in with the spectators to encourage the runner and give an extra big cheer to some of the friendly faces we've encountered through GoodGym!

We were enlisted this morning to help with the preparations for tomorrow's Love Luton Run Fest. So our little team of 5 goodgymers assembled at the Town Hall ready to create a production line to get the volunteer bags filled with goodies ready for tomorrow. There was a special welcome for Nooh as it was his first time at a GoodGYm task - and he made an excellent contribution to the team. It didn't take us long to get 120 draw string bags filled with lanyards, safety information, pin badges, water, plastic clappers, snacks, bananas and a cup for hot drinks. Duncan and Abdulrahman did a final count to check we had enough before we got them boxed up ready for tomorrow's event.

An alternative start point for this evening at the Wardown House museum, to cut the distance to our task down slightly. We welcomed new joiner Adam who brought the group up to seven.

Once warmed up, we headed to the Bushmead Hub where Matt from the Wildlife Trust had left us a task to sand down a couple of picnic benches in their nature garden.

With seven pairs of hands it was a quick and effective sanding job, swiftly followed by a fresh lick of paint in a shade called Willow.

We used up the can of paint, cleaned up our brushes and the drips, admired a job well done, then headed back along Old Bedford Road to a cool down stretch in Wardown Park, accompanied by the sounds of owls in the dark trees.

A small group this week, but determined to get the task done! We had a fast walk for 30 minutes to get us to the Holy Trinity Church where William had a quick vacuuming task for us. We got in between the pews, high up the windows, finding all the dust and spiders webs and clearing them away.

Leaving the church looking a good deal fresher we returned to the town centre with another power walk!

It was a chilly evening, but this didn't deter 4 Luton GoodGymers from turning out to help with FoodCycle again.

Gill and Lucie were on the cooking team again, and while Lucie prepared a delicious filling of for the fajitas for the starter with a creamy dip on the side, Gill started on dessert. It's always a challenge when there is very little in the way of fruit and produce to make a dessert, but Gill had put by some chocolate spread a few weeks ago, and soon got thinking about what she could do with 5 packs of filo pastry and some cream cheese spread.

Omar and Neill were hosts with the most, setting up the hall and making sure the guests were welcomed and served their food with a smile.

It's always good to partner with the FoodCycle Family and and tonight was no exception.

What an amazing amount of work our team of 5 put in today to make the International Older Person’s Day Party a huge success! From 10.00 the team were on hand to set up tables and chairs, lay the tables with cloths and start preparing the food. As the guests arrived we were then detailed to serve teas and coffees and make sure everyone felt welcome. Gill was asked to give a short talk about or social missions. Then it was on to serving the sandwiches and savouries, helping with the bar and serving the most important part - scones with lashing of clotted cream and lots of tasty cakes. While the entertainment took place we helped to keep people topped up and started on clearing plates. One or two of us may even had joined in the dancing. As the afternoon drew to a close we all pitched in to clear the plates and cups and clear up the tables and chairs. It was 5 hour shift but we all enjoyed being part of such a joyous occasion.