Having arrived 5 minutes late, I ran into the Waterloo car park to find a large group of socially distanced Goodgym members in bright red t-shirts eager to get on with the task on what was a lovely sunny evening, however there was no task co-ordinator in sight! Bill and Helen investigated and within minutes returned followed by people with wheelbarrows.

A brief discussion of the tasks was delivered with the first task being to paint the pavilion black with five people needed, so Ian, Darren, Helen, Mark and Elizabeth eagerly volunteered and went off to do that task. Whilst Andy, Cheska and Penny searched for places to secure their bikes and Robert helped remove two wheelbarrows off of a car, the rest of the Goodgymers cracked on with the second task which involved shovelling mulch into wheel barrows to be transported to near the pavilion. This task definitely put the GYM in GoodGYM.

With Katy, Jess and Stephen on shovelling duties, it was down to Bill, Cheska, Penny, Andy, a task co-ordinator (whose name I didn’t catch) and Robert to transport the mulch, pushing wheelbarrows up a surprisingly exhausting incline towards the pavilion. Jonathan cracked on with spreading the mulch, whilst Andy later joined in with the mulch spreading fun!

Thanks to the task-coordinators who provided gloves, water and much encouragement!

With the sun setting, it was time for everyone to meet up with their wheelbarrows near the mulched beds for a group photo (featuring Bill and Kate sitting in wheelbarrows) and then onwards towards the car park to meet the pavilion painters.

With Darren’s Goodgym top covered in black paint it was clear that the painters had been very busy too! We were joined by a fellow Goodgym member called Ali who popped by to say hello whist Bill and Kate kindly provided grapes and raspberries. Andy had a little surprise for us as he shared his and Rute’s wedding album for everyone to read and share memories about Rute.