We had a very good number of volunteers (goodgymers &SundonParkBaptist church member’s) turn up to support at the Cafe as the time flew past. The hall was left tidy and clean at the end of today’s fun kudos to 4-goodgymers present: Faith,Gloria,Abim and host pastor-Revd. Charmaine.

This week's group run took us to the Dallow Downs to meet a new partner organision for GoodGym, the recently formed Friends of Dallow Downs and Winsdon Hill!

It was unseasonably warm on the way up the Dallow Road but before too long we found Kevin from ABCD Luton who supports litter picking groups all over town. We set ourselves up with bags and pickers and headed between the houses into the woods at the bottom of the hill to meet Sophie, Vanessa and John, the friends group.

We didn't have to take more than a couple of steps into the woods before we found plenty of mess. Domestic waste had been dumped here many times by the look of it and the area hadn't been cleaned for years and years.

We filled bag after bag of all the rubbish, there was layer upon layer. It's the first time we've made good use of a rake on a litter pick! Perseverance meant we made some progress and forged on deeper into the woods.

After an hour we called it a day and counted up our collection of bags to a huge 129! Not to mention all the other random large items we pulled out like beds, tables, TVs and a gazebo!

It was a pleasure to meet this new group and help them out with their passion to restore the downs to something resembling a natural state! We will be back!

Another fun afternoon and evening at FoodCycle today - and it was Faith's first time helping at this project. We hope she enjoyed the session as much as the three regulars did.

Gill was on the early shift as she had helped with the food collection and was on hand to open up the hall and get things started. With lots of part baked bread and frozen pastry she started on prepping the crostini for some crispy bruschetta and then got busy rolling out the pastry for 5 large quiches.

Next on the scene was Martin, who joined in the kitchen team alongside the other FoodCycle regulars and there was soon a hive of industry to prepare the tomatoes and salad for the starter, and the roasted veg for the couscous accompaniment to the quiche.

Omar, who had answered a late call for additional volunteers to host the session arrived, and was a whiz at serving the volunteers with pre-service fruit snacks before getting joining the other hosts with serving our guests and clearing up afterwards.

Finally, Faith arrived and was soon elbow deep in a sink full of suds as she had offered to take on the vital role of pot washer today, and was an absolute godsend as she cleaned up the cooking posts and all the dishes and cutlery from the meal. "It was my first time at FoodCycle and I really enjoyed it." she said.

There was lots of positive feedback again from the guests who really enjoyed the meal. Well done team. Another fabulous meal.

I learnt how to prepare some delicious meals, met amazing people, ate, did cleaning. I am very happy with this task. I feel very fulfilled.