Olympic effort by team Goodgym. Goodgymers made their way to the mencap society to sand and paint the garden benches, so everyone can sit and enjoy the sunshine. The task was followed by tea and delicious Olympic themed cake😁

This evening we took our Wednesday club (aka the Maidenhead GoodGym group run) to the Mencap Society's Wednesday club to help with some gardening.

We met up at our home from home, the Maidenhead Community Centre, which is only a short walk from Highview Centre, the home of not only Mencap, but also the Alzheimer's Society and other community organisations.

Sheila led the majority of the group, who were walking, and I was joined by runners Adam and Jess. We did a warm up and a lap of Kidwells before chasing after the walkers. With tired legs following Endure 24 I'm sorry to say we didn't catch them!

When we arrived at Highview Centre the walkers had already been greeted by task owner Colin and members of the Wednesday Club and they were getting stuck into the task - cutting back overgrown shrubs, pulling up weeds and battling brambles in the back garden.

I nipped out to find Ben, who had opted to meet us at the task, and even in the short time I was out the gardeners made great progress.

Ben joined Adam working in the front garden and they did an amazing job cutting things back and clearing weeds, including loads of bindweed.

This was the first time we've helped at Highview during a Mencap Wednesday club session and it was lovely to see the venue in use and to meet some of the members. There was a real buzz in the room as the members played games, did crafts and enjoyed a disco.

It was a lovely sociable evening, catching up with old friends and welcoming back newer members Caroline and Viv. While we worked we were treated to delicious home made Victoria sponge and cups of tea. We will be sure to return soon, as we have been invited to help paint 6 benches. Can't wait!

Thankfully we weren't singing in the rain on Wednesday night as we had a lucky break in the weather. The group met just by Kidwells Park and were delighted to welcome Ann for her second GoodGym session. Ann found out about us after meeting Amy at one of the new community drop in sessions - welcome Ann!

Kanika, Diya, Roberta and Ann set off walking whilst Amanda led a warm up session for Jenni, Gillian, and local councillor Jack in the park. Tony joined us for the safety briefing then made his own way to the venue.

Our task was to clear the garden at the Mencap Society, just uptown of Maidenhead centre but for some extra steps Amanda took them uptown and then downtown before their arrived at their location on North Road, Maidenhead. The garden was a haven of bio-diversity and Kanika managed to capture some of it on camera.

Anthony got straight to work power-ing up the high-class toys and quickly cleared the tall trees and stubborn brambles. Ann's presents came at once when she was assigned to clear the side of the shed and Jenni

Diya helped Amanda clear the watering hose before tidying up the floor around the planting boxes which are hard for the residents and gardeners to reach. Kanika and Roberta made up their mind to clear the side garden manging to clear a half metre of weeds and overgrown bushes - well done ladies.

Gillian knows what she want(ed) from her time and got straight to work pulling up the weeds in the overgrown flowerbed. Jack was definitely oh so tough when he jumped into the garden waste bin to squash it all down. After a bit more trimming, cutting and tidying the garden was looking fine, fine, fine and we set off back downtown to Kidwells park.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? This evening was more a tale of Hugh from Highview and the Seven GoodGymers. Although we did realise during the evening that we are not a tall bunch! Hmmm, I wonder which one of us would be Grumpy?

Anyway, cold, wet weather didn't deter these seven super GoodGymers from heading out this evening. We started with a quick and much needed warm up and a sociable 2km run/walk to the task (alternating one minute of each).

We then powered through lots of jobs in the garden at Highview House, the home of Mencap in Maidenhead. Thanks to task owner Hugh, who met us and showed us what needed doing - a mix of cutting back, levelling up, clearing leaves and weeding. In 45 minutes we ticked off everything on the list and filled two green bins to the brim. Great work!

It was then time for warm up squats, a brisk walk back, farewells, and homewards to comforts like hot baths, tea, crumpets and lasagne. At this point none of us Grumpy, but feeling Happy and Sleepy!

This evening was a treat for so many reasons! It was great to welcome such a big group, Oaken Grove Park looked beautiful in the evening sunshine as we set off on our walks and runs to the task, and we got lot of weeding and chatting done in the gardens at Highview House, the home of the Mencap Society in Maidenhead.

The icing on the cake was that we were celebrating Juli's 100th good deed with GoodGym - an epic achievement in just 19 months. Many thanks to Jen, who organised the Prosecco and to star baker Georgeta, who made an exquisite Black Forest Gateau and served it beautifully with a cherry on top for every slice. Here is a poem to celebrate Juli and her big milestone:

I’m delighted to announce that Juli Wood

Has done one hundred deeds of good!

Her first good deed was at St Luke’s School

For her ninety ninth she painted Courthouse pool

Number 100 today was gardening

Which is pretty apt, because it’s sort of her thing

Weeding, digging and planting in her jeans

She makes cakes out of kale and gives us home grown beans

She’s a competitive runner and loves a Quest

Whenever we do one, she’s the best

She lost to Mo Farah in one disappointing race

But her parkrun age grading is often first place

Her parkrun tourist record is impressive too

And she always makes sure to park near a loo

She loves parkrun so much she dates a Run Director

Her club is Running Sisters but we’re trying to defect her

She’s retired from Waitrose so has time on her hands

But she fills it quick with loads of plans

Chorister, ballroom dancer, sailing club skipper,

She does it all and more and is always very chipper

Yes, if you’re looking for someone truly good

Look no further than Juli Wood

Juli, huge congratulations on all you’ve done

See you next week for deed one hundred and one!

Next Wednesday evening we are off to Kiddies Cabin, an NHS run nursery school, for some fence painting - sign up here. You can also check out the listings for loads of other opportunities to do good and get fit.

We came, we saw and we conquered. The garden at the Highview Centre was extremely overgrown when we arrived. With limited tools every single GoodGym member who attended rolled up their selves and got stuck in-(literally).It was amazing team work. What a fantastic group of volunteers.

We cut down, trimmed, swept, raked and even re-planted. Valerie, from Highview could not believe the transformation of the garden, and was so grateful for all the help and time everyone had given.