Our first 2023 outing with Friends of Maidenhead Waterways - and waterway to get stuck into the New Year!

Our mission was to continue clearing the Marsh Meadow ditch of weeds and debris, to enable water to flow into the regenerated Town Centre streams. With the forecast wet and dreary weather, many would have decided to ditch this task, but not this hardy bunch!

Cold feet, the wrong kind of weeds, the wrong kind of fork, Wallace & Gromit style 'wrong trousers', wet hands, wet arms, wet water trickling down Rachel's back... if you were Jay-Z you might say we had 99 problem, but the ditch wasn't one.

In fact, the ditch was wonderful! Sliding into on your bottom was a pleasure, it was just the right depth and squishiness underfoot for joyful wading, and by the time we had finished, a great stretch of it was looking satisfyingly clear.

There were also plenty of other things to like about this session - the fresh air, the mud, the hot coffee and biscuits (thank you Jordan!) and most of all, the delightful company and team spirit. There was much laughter and happy chatter as we worked.

Also , Tony from FoMW was wearing enough bright colours for it to feel quite tropical at times. There was one moment when we imagined we were in the Deep South, and another where Rachel declared it was just like a hot tub!

Well done to Rachel and Sheila for cycling to and from the session, on top of the ex-stream-ly good workout we got from the task.

Thanks again to FoMW for welcoming GoodGym to another brilliant work party and supporting our January challenge. Loads more great sessions coming up soon...click here for details.