Sophie, Jess, Amy and Sol met at All Saints church and set off on the 1km journey to Desborough Park. Sophie and Amy walked whilst Jess and Sol ran back and forth between lamposts and us, with high fives and Dad jokes to motivate them! Well done both on extending your distance by nearly double!

When we arrived at the park we met Viv and Helen (our task owner from Wild Maidenhead) who set us to work on digging up grass and weeds from a large wildflower bed ready for them to plant new items and create a bee habitat. Many hands made light work and there was a noticeable difference as shown in our before and after photos courtesy of Jess.

We were careful not to step in any dog muck and avoid tics, though the weather turned about 15 minutes before we finished so we set off back to the meeting location on the 1km (very wet and rainy) walk. Great effort everyone and hope you've all dried off now!

Tonight’s GoodGym mission in Maidenhead was a sandy one! While beach cleans aren’t exactly common around here, this one came with a twist—we weren’t cleaning the beach, we were removing it.

A couple of months ago, we helped create the pop-up beach for Norden Farm’s summer festivities. But with autumn creeping in and flip-flops firmly back in storage, it was time to bid farewell to the sandpit!

Shifting 13 tonnes of sand is no small feat—and definitely tougher than laying it out in the first place! But the GoodGym crew rose to the challenge. With teamwork, grit, and sandy socks, we helped the Norden Farm staff make a serious dent in the dunes. There’s still a bit left to tackle, but the bulk of the beach has officially been packed away.

🦸‍♀️ Six litter-picking superheroes assembled at the community centre, ready to take on the challenge of tidying up the streets and parks of Maidenhead.

Armed with picks and hoops, we set off towards the station—a gentle stroll to warm up our eyes for the litter lurking ahead. From the station, we swooped into the High Street, scooping up mountains of cigarette butts and rogue takeaway cups.

Tony and Mike veered off down a side-street, while Sheila, Sarah, Jess, and Viv took the more direct route. Everyone found a few treasures, but the general consensus? The town centre was looking far tidier than on previous missions.

We were met with cheerful “Thank you!”s from passers-by, and even roped in a spontaneous participant for a race to a paper cup. He won—and his prize? The honour of binning it himself!

With the town centre sparkling, we ventured into Kidwells Park. Here, the litter was more plentiful, and our bags filled up fast. After an hour of heroic effort, we regrouped at the community centre to compare hauls and swap stories.

A job well done—and a wonderfully chatty, cheerful task to boot!

9 goodgym pupils made their way to St Lukes school to help tidy up the flower beds and areas around the school grounds

In no time at all we had weeded, cleared and swept up the needy areas and rescued numerous sized balls from the undergrowth

Task completed and gold stars all round we made our way back home until next time!

Five Goodgymers got their steps in delivering leaflets to spread the word of the upcoming Kite Festival at Boyn Grove park for Norden Farm.

Splitting into two groups and disappearing into familiar residential routes for some. After an hour each and all leaflets delivered we reconvened and discussed our opinions of the houses we visited.

Big house, small houses, angry dogs, surprise dogs through cat flaps and eager residents snatching the leaflet from the letterbox before we made it off the drive.

We compared sizes and shapes of letter box or sometimes no letter box. It turns out delivering leaflets requires more skill and a higher step count than we thought.

All good fun.