8 determined GoodGymers met at one of our favourite venues, Nature's Haven to see what our taskowners Claire and Aleks had in store for us. While they borrowed Tony to consult on greenhouse construction, the others set to work on tidying up the shrubs at the back of the Community Centre. With forks, secateurs, spades and loppers we set about removing the Sycamore saplings, bindweed and snowberry bushes. We amassed a huge amount of green waste which we managed to stuff into the Green Bin with the aid of some special trampling by Tony. We were kindly treated to tea and biscuits afterwards, and we look forward to another visit soon!

Angela and Sheila went to help with weeding of a large flower bed just outside the park, which has been taken on by one of the residents. This was a second session, and was concentrating on defining the edges and taking the grasses out which were engulfing the other plants. There are some lovely plants in there, and in a few weeks will be looking fabulous. Hats off to Sarah, our taskowner for taking this on, and creating such a beautiful environment for the residents

Twelve hardy Goodgymmers stepped up to dig up some hard soil to help with ground prep for new flower beds to be put in.

We welcomed two new and travelling Goodgym members, Charlotte and Alice who came down from Amersham.

It was also a special task because we celebrated Louise's 50 good deeds with cake and macaroons kindly brought over by Amy.

The going was tough on the dry hard soil but nothing is ever too tough for this group! Our task owner was very pleased with all the prep work we'd managed.

Hard work done, cake eaten, chatting finished, we all dispersed from another fantastic GG Wednesday mission!

Due to the clocks springing forward at the weekend we enjoyed one of our first evening sessions of the year where head torches weren't required! A chatty hour of clearing ivy, brambles and other weeds from around the gravestones while the sun set behind us. Thanks to everyone (including Amanda from the Church) for coming along!

Last night, a big group of GoodGymmers (14 to be exact) along with 2 members of the local council gathered around a large laurel bush on the corner of St Luke's Road and Cordwallis Road. 2 groups had made sure they opted for active travel to arrive at the task - Sophie, Jess and Kelley ran 2km and there was a group of approximately 5-6 walkers who walked around 1.5km.

The task was to chop the bush down to make way for a nature garden for St Luke's School, just across the road. It was probably the biggest bush that GoodGym have trimmed thus far...!

Our task leader brought along lots of tools to help us - loppers, sacateurs and litter pickers - as there was a lot of litter buried deep within the bush! And nobody likes a dirty bush! So we did a sterling job of cleaning it up, chopping it back and our task leader was very handy with the saw to tackle the bigger branches. We worked on the bush for an hour and made a huge amount of progress which our task leader was very grateful for.

It was one heck of a workout and we were all sweating by the end, which meant we definitely all deserved some treats.

Thankfully, the amazing Anne-Laure made sure to plan her 50th good deed with this enormous group of hungry GoodGymmers and Rachel made the most epic cake and even provided homemade brownies for the free-from participants! Amy presented Anne-Laure with the customary handmade GoodGym medal too. Congratulations Anne-Laure on reaching this milestone and thank you Rachel for the yummy cakes and brownies!

I think we can all agree that the task was hard work, a laurel fun and as always, great company. There is a lot of laurel now piled up needing to be taken away so if any GoodGymmers are able to assist please message either Sophie or Amy via the whatsapp who can put you in touch with the task owner and you can self-log a good deed.

Great work GG team!