With Storm Ellen in full force, 10 resilient GoodGymers tackled the litter at Canoe Lake.

Maura, Lynn, Lucy, India and newbie Naciera tackled the play field and the Rose Garden.

Katie, Maxine, Liv, Sam and I litter-picked the grass areas and bushes surrounding the lake, including collecting rubbish from around the sleeping cygnets.

It became a battle with the wind to keep the litter in our bags and not spread it further over the park!

We found socks (of course!), plenty of beer bottles, metal bottle caps and endless cigarette ends.

Liv found a bag of cycling accessories in the shrubbery and Liv & Sam found a pouch containing personal banking and ID cards, which they intended to try to reunite with the owner.

After an hour of picking and a full black sack of rubbish, half the group went to the beach, joined by Tony, and India, Sam & Liv courageously battled the waves to have a hectic dip in the sea!

Tonight was part one of the Make make-over.

The gang split into three teams; team one was Catherine and Maxine who spent the evening giving the white toilet a new coat of paint to freshen it up. Team two was Katie, Lucy and Tracey who had the job of stripping the wallpaper from another toilet. Ever resource these girls - they used a fish slice (that’s what I call it anyway!) as a wallpaper scraper. It did the job perfectly. Team three; Liv and me (Sam) had the job of painting the floor. Liv was a dab hand with a roller and I got to fill in the smaller gaps with a paintbrush.

Big thanks to Maxine for capturing the before, during and after photos.

Lovely Sarah at Make provided us with drinks and snacks, and was thrilled with how much we achieved in 2 hours.

We’re back next week to finish the task off. Keep your eyes peeled for the make-over at Make part 2!