Thames Hospice is running a fund-raising campaign in the summer called 'Trunks Across the Thames' and they put out a call for people to make elephant-themed items which can be sold in pop-up shops. Not a typical GoodGym task, but 8 GoodGymers took on the challenge to release their creative side. And boy, did they surpass all expectations! Give them a wide brief, and it's amazing what people came up with! Jess was first out of of the blocks with some beautifully cross-stitched cards, and Hannah crafted some fantastic resin keyrings. Angela had a crafting evening making some fun felt elephants and even found some elephant bunting. Viv re-purposed some old football-themed pillowcases to make our largest contributions. Sheila tackled a variety of techniques, producing knitted and sewn soft toys, badges, and some zippered pouches made from elephant fabric scavenged from a Googym task for the Green Skills Library. Georgeta produced some beautifully mounted photographic prints of elephants she had made friends with in Indonesia. Carys brought out her artistic side with drawings of elephants and Amy made some cute origami elephants from which she made some beautifully crafted and original cards. I was so impressed with the time, enthusiasm and creativity which everyone put into the task. Jess from Thames Hospice says a huge big THANK YOU!

Well done everyone for supporting nature this weekend. Remember to upload your findings to the RSPB website, when you get a moment. There's a live leaderboard; with two million birds recorded so far..... what will be the final tally?! Full results will be published in a few months time. Thank you for getting involved, I hope you enjoyed your birdwatching.

What do the dinosaurs, Viking long boats, Queen Elizabeth I, Mars the Roman God of War, a Sphinx and a pyramid, the silhouetted London skyline from WW2, and Windrush all have in common?

Not only are they all important symbols, moments or characters from history, they are also all the subject of sculptures and artwork created by GoodGymers Claire, Yesim, Hannah, Tessa, Nicola and myself.

And what would you need if you wanted to step back in time and visit all these fascinating parts of history?

Either a TARDIS... or a reading festival, packed with books, visiting authors and interactive activities to help bring the past to life.

Lucky for the people of Maidenhead, we have both!

A TARDIS lovingly created by Scarlett, AND a fantastic celebration of books (and for this year's theme, history) in the form of the Big Read festival.

Many thanks to task owner Tessa from the Big Read committee, who invited us to make these decorations for the library ready for the festival. It is the third year we have been involved in this creative project and it's always a joy to see what people make. This year's theme was 'Stepping Back in Time', so we had the whole of history to inspire us.

Special mention to Yesim's husband, who sailed her amazing viking long boat down to the community centre to welcome us back from our group run this evening.

The Craft Coop has a project to provide realistic-looking fruit, vegetable and other foodstuffs for a permanent window display for the Foodshare shop. Five Goodgymmers rose to the challenge to help out with the project, and started knitting and crocheting with gusto. Very soon, lots of fruit and veg started appearing, with Jess learning to crochet in the process. We now have lots of fruit and vegetables, eggs and even some pasta for the display Well done to everyone who took part, showing some excellent crafting skills. Do pop into the Craft Coop to see some of the other contributions, they should all make an amazing display