This week our group run was a team-up with another group of volunteers from the Luton Someries Rotary Club. They look after a garden patch in Wardown Park that went a bit wild in past years but has been brought back under control thanks to their efforts.

We ran out from the town centre to find Jan and her team of volunteers getting the weeding done. Our first job was to dig some holes and plant the new plants. A second job was to dig out a clump of sedge which had got a bit out of control. That turned out to be the biggest job as it really didn't want to move. Resistant to forks, spades, sawing the roots it really wouldn't budge.

Community spirited passer-by Hafsa stopped to see what we were up to and joined in with the gang, helping to transform this patch into a flowery feature for the summer. Good on you Hafsa! It's lovely when people compliment our activity and amazing when they join in 💪🏼

A quick break for squash and some Jammy Dodgers and we tried again to have a go at the sedge, summoning the tiger energy in turns to hack away at the roots with a spade and in the closing moments of the session, we secured victory and ripped the clump out of the ground!

Tidying up we helped carry all the weeds and cuttings to the car park for later disposal and bid farewell to Jan's team as we set off for a lap of the cricket pitch and finish our 5km distance for the evening.

Darshini and I had an hour or so at Mrs L’s as she has limited mobility but was keen to get her front garden looking slick and span now that the spring is here. The main task was to scrape out the moss that was growing between the block paving stones. At first sight it looked as if we would be finished quickly and have time to start on the back garden too… But no… there was no messing with the moss- it seemed to cling on for dear life! But at least we had time for a good natter while we scraped and swept to leave the garden looking neat and tidy.

Our planned visit to the Lea Vale Community garden was cancelled last minute so that meant quickly packing our handy folding pickers in a backpack and heading out in search of litter.

The original task involved a run up to Farley Hill so we kept that theme and ran up to Winsdon Hill, picked our way back down again and collected about 8 bags of rubbish between us. We also reported a few bulky fly tips to the council too so they can be collected later on.

A lovely warm and sunny evening was perfect to enjoy the wild flowers on the Winsdon hill meadows and the blossom on the hawthorns and the cherry tree plus the view over Luton from the top of the hill.

Foodcycle Hightown Baptist church 07/04/26

3 Goodgymers joined today Gill came around with food collection and plenty of surplus 👏 Martin was a ragú hero and made amazing sauce for spaghetti with plenty of mushrooms 🍄‍🟫 Lucie was on the soup duty

This evening we served 29 guests plus takeaways .

On today’s menu was: Starter Carrot and parsnip 🥣 soup Main Spaghetti with vegetable ragú and garlic bread Dessert Fruit salad

5 Goodgymers joined the Friends of Peoples Park team on their monthly litter pick.

No big ticket items to report...the regular litter picks are keeping the park in good shape and hopefully are encouraging users to be more mindful about their litter 🤞

Around 13 bags collected to keep the momentum going followed by an unplanned upper body workout as we lobbed our bags into the cage on the council truck!!!

It was our first visit to Holy Trinity church in 2026 and our first group run of the year in daylight!

We ran out to meet William and Violet for a spring clean of the church interior, vacuuming the floor, mopping the tiles in the aisle and polishing the pews.

It was the first time for two people. We showed Hussein and Ebrahim the ropes of a GoodGym session and they put in a good effort with both the running and the cleaning!