After meeting new member Nicola and a mini litter pick around Marston we descended upon the Up in Arms to say farewell and bon voyage to Anwen.

This is the speech that I MEANT to give before I became a blubbering mess......

After 7 years and an amazing 665 good deeds the Queen of Goodgym Oxford is departing for a new European adventure.

The impact that Anwen has had on Oxford cannot be underestimated. She has gathered us to clean food banks, create green spaces, look after community gardens, remove brambles, weed walls, clear litter and even move an organ over a railway bridge.

As I was making my way to the task this evening I passed all the beautiful daffodils that we've planted - a cheerful reminder that Goodgym was here!

We have had many running adventures too - parkruns, races, our View Cones run in memory of our lovely Tim, and marathons in fun places. If Anwen sends you a link to a races and says "fancy it?" you should ALWAYS say yes!!

Anwen you kept us going through Covid (with Trev's help) providing essential food packages and prescriptions for the community and much needed social contact for us too. You have literally supported us through births, deaths and marriages and everything in between.

A thank you should also be said on behalf of the stray and feral cats of Oxfordshire - another example of your capacity to nurture and care.

Oxford's loss is very definitely France's gain and we will miss you. Please raise your glasses to Anwen!!

A balmy spring (yay!) evening saw us back at Rose Hill Junior Youth Club, picking up our help with their preparations for new planters, to make the site just that little bit brighter.

Standing on the ground we'd previously cleared of shrubs, Meg ran us all through what was needed - part filling the newly delivered planters with small pieces of wood and topping up with compost from a GIGANTIC compost sack - a great arm and abs workout.

With so many of us, we even managed to form a splinter group to pick up some of the litter both on- site and in the surrounding streets - featuring chat about what makes a good litter picker (good grippy prongs) and multiple fun running and cycling escapades.

Looking forward to seeing the planters in all their glory!

Welcome to the group, Elsa!

A small, but perfectly formed, crew of GoodGymers returned to OXSRAD to paint the treatment room, turning it from a minty hue to something that DEFINITELY wasn't magnolia (but closely resembled it). We've never been more grateful for an indoor task, with sleet and sideways rain outside. We painted away until the paint ran out, leaving a relatively small task for the staff to finish once they have more paint.

Our ratio of paint on walls vs paint on people is definitely improving as time goes on - it's never too late to learn new tricks!

Last night we did another of our monthly spring cleans at OMA. Because we have been CLEANING DEMONS the last couple of months this was actually a relatively quick task.

We dusted, hoovered, mopped, sprayed and wiped and sorted out the fruit and veg. Things we learnt; what turmeric looks like, Henry the hoover has a sister called Hettie.

Great work team! Next month we'll be tackling the big shelf of cardboard boxes, get ready to think "keep, store, chuck, donate".