Tony, Sue and Sheila braved the coldest morning of the season so far to go and help muck out the pond at Braywick Nature Reserve. After donning waders ( all except for Sue, whose neat little size 3 feet would have been swamped in the sizes available) and long gloves, we made our way down to the pond. We had to climb over the fence as the gate padlock was frozen, and break the ice on the pond, but Tony was straight into the water in the partially-drained pond. Together with Rangers Tom and Rosie, and members of the Parks Team, we set to work digging out sludge from the edge of the pond into buckets which were then emptied out on the edge of the area. Always being mindful of not digging into the pond liner. Tom and Tony got the pump going to lower the water level and reveal more lovely sludge. We all ended up covered in mud, but had a great time helping out, and after a hose-down back at base, made our way home for a warm-up Feeling like you've missed out? More mud-moving scheduled for next week https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/help-maintain-the-pond-in-the-braywick-nature-reserve-088520ce-95d4-4ffb-aec3-600e17c6253a

Due to continued flooding at Ockwells, our group of intrepid volunteers were re-deployed to Braywick Park. It was great to be able to welcome Karin to her first ever Goodgym session, and Angela to her second. A warm welcome to you both. We armed ourselves with shovels and spades, and made our way down into the park. Our task was to clear the mud and leaf litter from the sides of the paths to make it safer for walkers, runners and cyclists. We were amazed by how wide the paths really are, and we got appreciative comments and thanks from pretty much everyone who passed by. We have released Braywick's hidden motorways! There is more that can be done, especially along the Cut to make it safer for parkrunners, but we have made a great start.

Our task at Ockwells Park could not go ahead due to extensive flooding - wetsuits would have been more appropriate than the wellies we were going to bring! Nonetheless the rangers at Braywick Nature Centre found us an alternative task at Braywick, clearing mud from the paths. The mud has been creeping onto the paths from the sides, and together with leaf mould from fallen leaves, the paths have become slippery for walkers and runners. Garry, Angela, Rosie, Rachel and Sheila went armed with spades, shoves, rakes and a wheelbarrow, and set to work. We managed to widen quite a long stretch of path, and Garry even discovered a whole section of path which had become over-run with ivy, forcing people to make a detour which had become very muddy. He also cut back the tree to allow people to use the path again - see if you can tell which section that was on your next Maidenhead park run! It was a good workout on a very chilly morning and we were all a bit warmer on our way home.

What an evening! A 6km walk/run, an adventurous task in Braywick Nature Reserve, and above all, a big celebration for Sheila's 500th GoodGym good deed. We couldn't have asked for better for our first group run/walk of the year.

A very warm welcome to Kate and Charlotte, who joined us for their first group run/walks with GoodGym. Hopefully the firsts of many.

A great big group of us met at the Maidenhead Community Centre, and we kicked off the festivities by giving GoodGym Queen Sheila the crown and cape that have always been there in my imagination.

Sheila and the walkers then set off across town, led by Taskforce superstar Rachel. Meanwhile the runners warmed up and then we set off too. Thanks to Claire, Gillian and Juli for offering to back mark, and to Angela and Sophie, who zoomed ahead to show the way.

On arrival at the leisure centre the runners had time for a quick bench fitness circuit before our task owner Ranger Tom and the walkers joined us. Press ups, tricep dips, mountain climbers and squat jumps - lucky runners!

I then handed over to Tom to lead our task. We had planned for planting oak trees outside the leisure centre, but the oak trees hadn't arrived, and a lot of mud had arrived on the Greenway, so Tom asked for our help with the mud instead. Good news is that we will still have an opportunity to plant the trees later in the month.

We went to the Nature Centre, where we collected wheelbarrows full of spades and rakes. Then we turned our torches to full and went into the Nature Reserve, to a stretch of the Greenway near Hibbert Road. An ash tree had fallen during the previous day's storm, and although the tree had been cleared, there was still a lot of mud and debris on the path.

Twenty four people working by torchlight made quite a spectacle amongst the dark trees of the Nature Reserve and there was a real buzz as we escaped from 'normal life' into the alternate reality of a GoodGym Winter evening session. Even Tom, who is used to being immersed in nature, enjoyed the thrill of being out in the woods in the cold and dark.

We dug, scraped, raked, scooped and chatted our way through the task, and the hard standing of the path was rapidly revealed. Tom said the same job would have taken his small team hours, so we made a real difference. Well done GoodGymers!

Then onto the important matter of the group photo. Well done Clara for getting creative and suggesting a spade/rake guard of honour for our queen. Well done Matthew for awesome photography, and well done everyone for holding up those spades for quite a long time - you wanted a work out, and you got one!

We then did the tool collection and running and walking in reverse, said goodbye to a couple of people who had to dash, and re-convened in the warm of the Maidenhead Community Centre for Sheila's big milestone celebtration.

And what a celebration! Georgeta brought her signature black forest gateau, complete with marzipan 'GG 500' lettering, Claire had made some gorgeous GF mini cupcakes, Rachel made some stunning flapjacks and pistachio biscuits, and Jack made lots of hot drinks. I presented Sheila with her sparkliest medal yet, a big card, a GoodGym mug and a hand decorated tin of tea - a nod to (and hopefully step up from) the emoji cup of tea I sent her in May 2021 to congratulate her on first GoodGym good deed at the Baby Bank.

Thanks to Matthew for capturing this all on camera. Matthew's direction of the group photo at this point in the evening was the closest I've ever felt to being at a wedding during a GoodGym session, and too right! Reaching 500 good deeds is a momentus occasion, which deserves to be captured in perfect picture form for posterity.

Sheila, WELL DONE! Not only for 500 good deeds, but for but organising and leading a huge proportion of these sessions too, and in doing so, enabling so many others to join in and and feel welcome at GoodGym.

I have a message from Sue Walker at the Boyn Grove Community Allotment saying that they 'wouldn't have managed to keep going in the last couple of years without you'. You have also made a huge difference to the Baby Bank and Braywick Heath Nurseries through regular sessions. The Craft Coop love you for your enthusiasm and contribution both on the crafty side and the practical/installation side of their projects, and your reach goes as far as Windsor, where you've made a big difference with regular Spital Cemetery sessions.

There are of course a great many other community projects and charities you have supported, as well as umpteen isolated older residents, who you have helped through social visits and gardening tasks. I will never forget the resident who made me cry (happy tears!) at a recent borough event, when she told me what a difference you had made to her life.

Kanika couldn't make this session, but sent a message, which beautifully sums up what we all think:

Sheila, thank you for being such an inspiration without any showboating. You, dear lady, are a bonafide legend 😎 Congratulations on this amazing achievement! 🤯

The task last night was tree care at Ockwells, but after finding out fairly late in the day that our task owner was not able to make the task, as well as being told there was not enough equipment on site for us to complete the task, the gardeners of the group rallied together and managed to bring along 4 wheelbarrows, lots of spades and weeding tools to make sure we still went ahead. It was a milestone session after all (more on that later) so we absolutely could not cancel...!

It was a beautiful summer's evening and once we had all arrived we started off with a quick warm up of... wheelbarrow races (of course!) We split into two teams and ran 2 laps each of the "track" with team 2 coming in victorious! Jess was our referee and did a fine job of keeping order!

We also welcomed Ben for his very first GoodGym session after he met Amy at a Rotary session. We hope you enjoyed your first session Ben and see you again soon!

Once the warm up was complete, we set off towards the tree care site, which was around a 0.5mile walk/run away. Gillian led the runners whilst the walkers brought all the equipment over. It was a little overgrown and Mandy was keen to dodge the stingers so there were some matrix style moves taking place.

There was a big pile of mulch when we arrived so we assigned roles; some were moving mulch into the barrows, some were delivering the barrows to the weeders, and some were weeding around the living trees to create more space for them to thrive and then to add mulch around them to try and keep the weeds away.

Scarlett said the session reminded her of school PE lessons and Solvita found a mysterious egg/mushroom which we are still trying to work out what it was, Jen did a google lens and thinks it's a type of puffball mushroom. There wasn't mushroom for it to grow with all those weeds around.

After around an hour of tree care and probably around 20-30 trees de-weeded and re-mulched, we assembled back to the car park where we gave Georgeta a huge cheer for completing her 250th good deed. Georgeta said a few words, she was presented with Amy's home made medal and Mandy read out / rapped the poem that Amy wrote for Georgeta's 100th good deed for anyone that hadn't heard it. There was also lots and lots of cake! A HUGE homemade carrot cake that Rachel baked, homemade blackberry "free from" muffins that Sophie baked, coffee truffles that Sheila made and some goodies that Jen bought along. Thank you everyone for your yummy contributions!

Congratulations Georgeta on your milestone and all the amazing work you do for GoodGym, especially with your social visits. You are a legend!

I hope everyone enjoyed the task - you all did a treemendous job!

(rag)Wort a lovely evening that was!

On our journey out, we walked or ran the scenic route, about 2km along the Thames Path and through Battlemead Common. Many thanks to Juli for leading the walkers and Gillian for showing the runners the way.

At Battlemead, our task was to go into battle with ragwort, a plant with distinctive yellow flowers, which an be dangerous to grazing animals such as horses, if not kept under control. Battlemead Common has been acquired by RBWM within the last few years and is maintained as a haven for wildlife. Grazing is an important part of the plan, so we needed to pull up as much ragwort as we could.

Armed with gardening gloves and with long trousers to protect against prickles and stingers, we fanned out and hunted down those yellow shrubs. There looked to be a lot and we wondered whether we might end up with sore hands and ant bites, and singing the rag(wort)-time blues, but the ragwort was easy to spot and came up with a good tug and a satisfying pop.

We worked for about 40 minutes and made surprisingly good progress. Check out our group photo to see the heap we had pulled up by the end! That's the magic of GoodGym - teamwork makes the task as easy as falling off a log...or so the phrase goes...Sol can tell us whether it's true as she managed to do both this evening. Glad you're OK Sol!

We then had fun with a quick fitness session including such delights as spotty dogs, aeroplane arms and mountain climbers. Well done everyone for joining in!

Then it was time to walk and run back to our start location and homes, taking the more direct route this time, but still chatting merrily as we went.

Special mentions this evening to Amy R, who did her 10th good deed with GoodGym this evening, and to Matthew, Rachel and Scarlett, who were out this evening for their second good deeds of the day - fantastic!