This weeks Foodcycle was as busy as ever as we cooked for, looked after and cleaned up after over 40 guests. In the Kitchen we welcome Lucie to her first Goodgym session and she help the rest of the team creating a fantastic 3 course meal out of a very limited donation of surplus food from our local supermarkets. Samantha was her usual happy self, keeping on top of the washing and drying up, whilst being generally helpful and providing a clean a tidy place for us all to work. Yazed helped the hosting team, who were under staffed so the work that he supported was even more important than usual. The task was not only lucky enough to have a first timer but we were also able to celebrate with Gill who clocked up her 500th, yes, I said 500th Goodgym task. What an amazing achievement for one of our Goodgym Luton superstars. Gill you're a legend, keep doing what you do. Excellent effort by all, we'll done

4 of Luton Goodgyms finest came together on a rather warm Sunday morning to help Debra from 9Red CiC reorganise one of her storage sites. The garage was a real Aladdin's cave of costumes, cookware, projectors, gardening equipment, children's arts and craft materials and there was even a 3D printer. We arrived to see what looked like a shut the door and worry about it later scenario (much like if my wife asks me to put the clean towels away at home). But Luton Goodgym soon got to grips with the erratic stacking of boxes and phenomenal balancing acts that were going on in the lock up and after pulling 99% of the contents out it was all put back in neatly, everything had its own space and it was all left very accessible.
There was also a chance for Laura to spread her wings and live life as a butterfly 🦋 for a short time. Debra was extremely grateful and I'm sure we'll be working with her again soon. Great effort team, 👌 what a really great task.

It was great to be supporting at Luton Futures for another fabulous celebration being put on for some of the older residents of Luton. It was the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of VE Day, so we felt honoured to be invited to share this event with some of the locals who have memories dating back to the war or post war period.

First to arrive was Dani who was soon put to work putting out the cutlery on the tables. Then when Gill joined her they were tasked with festooning the hall with metres of Union Jack Bunting. Dani must have got in some serious elevation as she went up and down the ladders to attach the bunting strategically from points around the ceiling.

Omar was next to join the fray, and was soon helping with bunting, before being requested to help with one or two of our GoodGym Allies to unload the food and load up supplies form the other community centre where the food was being cooked.

Bread rolls, cups and water were placed on the tables before Dani had to make an exit, But Omar and I continued with the preparations.

We were later joined by Derrick and Mayra, who were on hand for providing an excellent table waiting service as well as doing a blinder on the washing up.

The party goers had an excellent time and Vera commented on the feedback she had received about GoodGym and felt that once again the GoodGYm team had ensured the success of the party. After the hall was cleared and cleaned we said our goodbyes with the sound of Vera Lynn fading in our ears., "We'll meet again, don't know where. don't know when..." although I have a very good idea that it won't be long before we do and Vera has hinted where the venue will be.

Watch this space, your excellent help will be requested soon for another community event.

This morning, Sam and Dani met the rest of the set-up crew down at the boathouse in Wardown Park. With set up complete, we were joined by Martin who was volunteering as a marshall and we snapped a photo of the 3 of us. This was Martins first visit to Parkrun since reaching the 500 milestone, so his new T-shirt was on display, we got a pic before he had to don his volunteer his vis! All in all, today was a job well done. It would be great to have a few more sign ups for the next Parkrun takeover on Saturday 14th June. Save the date!

We welcomed Angel as our newest goodgymer at the cafe! A big shout out to all 3 participants and volunteers from SPBC for making it another memorable day. The day never ended with Revd @Charmaine doing some plumbing work around the premises

It was a lovely sunny evening, the day after VE Day, and we had been asked to help prepare the veg for tomorrow’s senior’s VE Day Celebration for some of the older folk. Gill and Yasin were first to arrive at Hockwell Community Centre and located a couple of sacks of potatoes to get started on. This was Yasin’s first experience of using a potato peeler, but after a slow start he soon got into a rhythm. Once Martin arrived the three of them got stuck in, with a bit of competitive peeling making the job go faster than expected.

Eventually Omar, Myra and Dee arrived. There was another first, as it was Myra’s first opportunity to wear her black GoodGym T shirt and it looked great. They joined the team and once the spuds were competed it was on to a sack of the most enormous carrots 🥕 we’ve ever come across! We managed to avoid the temptation for innuendoes, but we couldn’t resist using the carrots as antlers, ears and drumsticks. Well it had been a long day for several of us, and we needed to let off steam. Carrots were peeled, chopped and then all the veg was stored in the kitchen ready for cooking tomorrow morning

We finished in record time - with half an hour to spare. So a bit of healthy competition paid off, and we were all able to leave early to get home for our dinners. Well done team, great job.