A small but mighty GoodGym team headed to St Botolph’s Church tonight, where we were warmly welcomed by our hosts, Val and Rik.

Under Val’s expert guidance, tonight’s task was to heavily prune the laurel bushes along the south-east side of the church, which had been getting a little too big for their boots and enthusiastically overhanging the wall!

The aim is to open up the view over the wall and into the secret garden, where some interesting displays are set to appear over the coming months. We’re hoping our efforts will really help the garden come into its own — you could say we’re helping to turn over a new leaf! 🌿

A huge GoodGym thank you to Mr and Mrs R — aka John and Belinda — together with Ricky, freshly back from his holiday and clearly ready to get stuck straight back in.

It was a small team tonight, but we certainly proved that good things come in small prunings! 😉

Thanks to Val and Rik for keeping us on task and for the warm welcome. Another productive evening of GoodGym graft, one branch at a time!

Fulfil a request for number of garden planters from recycled wood

Asked to make a hedgehog box. Produced two options and waiting for decision. The jury’s still out!

Barbara spent a happy 30 minutes with Margaret helping her plant bulbs in pots so that they don't fry it in these drought like conditions.

Today six GoodGymers headed back to English Martyrs School to assist with the holiday transformation project. After a tour to see progress in a highly crucial area of the school which we had previously worked on, the boys toilets, Richard set out the two tasks for today.

Today’s task was wall worth the effort!

Today was all about walls. Painting some, and hanging notice boards on others. The team split evenly across the two tasks. Well, into even numbers at least.

Rolling, rolling, rolling,

And a lot of cutting in. Mel, Paul, Charlie and Julia set about the painting task. Mixed colour walls soon became uniform, and with most of the paint on the walls, the room was transformed.

Cutting edge

Belinda and John escaped the paint to help Richard cut and hang notice boards. Measure twice, cut once proved to be a useful adage as Belinda pointed out the angle that shouldn’t be there. Boards cut to size, were then hung in position ready for new term displays.

And cut!

With both groups finished, the task was a wrap. Until next time……..

While the rest of the team headed off on a litter pick, Barbara and Paula spent the evening bringing a little extra sunshine to one of our favourite residents at Beehive Care Home.

The trio enjoyed a relaxed evening in the garden. Armed with gloves and plenty of enthusiasm, Barbara and Paula got stuck into tidying borders, pulling up weeds and giving the garden a well-earned spruce-up.

The highlight of the evening was harvesting some beautifully ripe tomatoes, which were picked fresh from the plants and ready to be enjoyed. There's something especially rewarding about seeing the fruits (quite literally!) of previous GoodGym visits.

A huge thank you to Barbara and Paula for helping keep Margaret's little patch blooming and proving once again that kindness grows best when it's shared.