Angela, Laura and Sheila were found an indoor task at Braywick Heath Nurseries today due to the weather. 3 trays of miniature plug plants of violas and pansies needed to be pricked out into six-packs, ready to be grown up ready for the winter season. 1,225 plants later, our job was done

One beach at Norden Farm, 2 employees, 3 GoodGymers, several shovels and lots of dumpy bags that needed filling. Sadly it was time for the beach to be put away for the winter. It proved to be the ultimate workout for Louis, Sol and Sheila, working legs, arms, shoulders and glutes. Gradually we filled the bags and helped Matt and Jim move the full bags with the aid of a pallet truck. We found several lost toys and a spade buried in the sand. By the end, we had helped them break the back of the task, leaving them with a little more to do tomorrow. An exhausting task!

Welfare visit for Mrs D

Luckily the rain had done most of the watering for us at the Community Allotment, but Georgeta went round with a watering can and topped up some areas. It left us time to prepare some ground ready to extend the raised fruit beds. A lovely chatty afternoon.

Caroline and Sheila helped out at the Baby Bank on a day when the facility was quite short of volunteers. Caroline was having to dig deep into the piles of clothes donations to find the sizes we are short of, while Sheila was doing secondary checking and topping up the boxes ready for referrals. Some urgent referrals came in during the morning and it brought it home to us how vital it is that clothes are fully checked and sorted into the right boxes to be ready when they are needed

Six GoodGymers met at Ray Mill Island for another round of cutting branches from the now diminishing pile of bush. Both large and small branches are being used to form a 'Fern Forest' on the side of the stream on Ray Mill Island.

The log barrier will both prevent people from going into the stream and the wood and fern will provide a habitat for insects and little creatures to flourish.

Regulars Mike, Georgeta, Sol and Diya knew the task on hand. New to Ray Mill - but not GoogGyming - Mohamud and Louis quickly joined the group, sawing and cutting branches. We filled two loads of the trolley placing the thin branches under big ones to create a tapestry (and stop kids from throwing sticks in the stream).

A nice physical activity after a day of desk work for most of us!