Six GoodGymmers made their way through the sunshine to meet task owner Angela at the Eco Action Hub.

With the Nicholson Centre due for demolition, all its occupants have just a week and a half to clear out. We’ve already been helping several charities with their moves — and tonight it was the Eco Action Hub’s turn.

The upstairs area was packed with furniture, boxes and all sorts of upcycling treasures that needed shifting downstairs for various groups to collect. Angela started us off with items for Wild Maidenhead, (a gazebo, boxes of leaflets and posters) plus a rack of folding chairs. “I’m sure that will be enough,” she said.

Little did she know about GoodGym efficiency… or the fact that we were already glowing from the heat.

Those first items were whisked downstairs in no time, so we moved straight on to everything else. Tables, branches, bamboo, blankets, more chairs and even more tables. In the warm evening air we scurried up and down the stairs like determined (and increasingly sweaty) ants, lifting, shifting and stacking.

Despite the heat, the teamwork was brilliant, and before long the upstairs was cleared and the ground floor neatly piled with items ready for collection.

Another hot and hardworking mission done — and more to come.

Six heavy lifters aka GoodGymmers met at the Eco Action Hub to help clear out their old junk. It involved getting heavy and/or awkwardly big items down the stairs, out of small corridors and doors, up a very old elevator and into the skip.

In an hour, we'd cleared out most of the stuff. Great upper body workout!

Spent the morning supporting Eco Action Hub by helping keep the hub open for visitors. It was slow but sometimes good things take a lot of patience to get going.

Armed with rubber gloves, cloths, buckets of water and a feather duster, we set to work helping the Eco Action Hub with some final cleaning ahead of its official opening this weekend.

Between us, we scrubbed skirting boards and steps, washed plastic chairs, cleaned a fridge and dusted shelves. It was great to see Mark at GoodGym and to be joined by honorary new member Emily - hope to see you again at another mission soon!

Not only did we get lots done in an hour but it was a true “spring” clean - as the clocks went forward at the weekend it was still light when we finished the task - hurrah!

This mission gave us a chance to have a sneak preview of the Hub, which includes a Library of Things to borrow for your home, a Repair Cafe, a seedling swap, a children’s corner, and even some tiny tadpoles!

If you’d like to visit, you can find them in the former Dorothy Perkins unit of the Nicholsons Centre - they’ll be open from 10am on Saturday 1 April with the opening ceremony at 11am. Find out more: https://ecoactionhub.co.uk/

The first of hopefully many more tasks to help the Eco Action Hub initiative. The Hub is in the process of setting up shop in the old Dororthy Perkins store in Nicolson's Centre. Task owner Graham met the "muscle" aka 6 GoodGymers + Amy's friend Lucas, ready for some heavy lifting.

Graham led Kanika and Diya to the Dental shop towards the front of the Centre to point out what furniture needed to be moved after 5pm. In the meantime, Sheila, Georgeta, Kelley, Amy & Lucas transferred some stuff to the store room upstairs. On their way up and down, they also managed to take time out to play dress up with mannequins (thanks, Georgeta & Kelley!)

5 o'clock saw the Centre close and the movement of furniture was well underway from one unit to the other. The group carried chairs, tables, drawers, boards, seats and whatever else had been marked with a tick. There was some reverse traffic too where some rather heavy frames had to be carried back to the dental unit. 

Amy Ross told us a bit about the planned decor and when all was done, we used a ladder as a prop for a photoshoot. Kelley got to take the Petite sign as her reward for doing the 50th as well as 51st deeds on the same day 🤩

Graham was thankful and impressed at our efficiency. There's a lot more to be done and we might be involved again so watch out for future listings.