Six Goodgymmers, Cora, Daryl, Sue, James, Keith and Lea, were all raring to have another go at painting the walls of TOSH. Cora had a list of task for us: screwing down loose plasterboards, filling holes and ridges and painting walls and (bits of) ceilings. James stuck to whitening the walls in the main room, Sue was happily whitening walls and ceilings in the ‘facilities’ 🙃, Keith happily filling lots of holes and Daryl was fighting with an old wall, where the paint came off quicker than he could put it on. But Daryl stuck to it and… he won 💪! The entrance hall wall looked welcomingly white at the end. And Lea, judging by the state of her hands, had a run in with white filler and black paint. Even her clothes confirmed this 🙈! The nicely screwed in white plasterboards got a total “revamp”, causing some “oh my”, “really?!”, “that looks awful”, “that’s not grey!” and “Yikes” comments…. But we all agreed that once the whole lot was done, it was actually looking pretty good!!! Nice choice, Cora!

Andy, a potential Goodgymmer, came to see what a Goodgym session is all about, and joined in quite happily. Hope to see you soon again, Andy.

Oh and not only the holes and ridges were filled: our stomachs were as well with all the delicious bites laid out for us during a coffee break.

Thank you everyone for your hard work.

Seven Goodgymmers, Caprice, Millie, Sophie, Eleanor, Janet, Keith and Lea joined Ruth inside St Augustin’s church tonight. The planned work outside wasn’t going to happen with buckets (of rain) coming down! No washing walls this time but scraping pillars… the peeling paint as well as salt crystals needed to be removed, so that the pillars will dry out better. Then they can be painted at a later stage. Lots of scraping meant lots of dust…. James to the rescue. Eh what? James could unfortunately not make it, so when Eleanor heard Lea say: “Well done James”, she got a bit confused. Turned out Lea was praising Henry’s cousin James, also in the hoovering business! Eh, right 🤔🤣! And then Caprice and James joined forces to attack more dust… Anyway, with dust collected as well as spiders webs, lots of leaves and a pine cone (?), but no mice running around this time, the church and Ruth are happily awaiting our return as there is lots more to do for the hardworking Goodgymmers group!! Thanks everyone for your hard work.

This morning, eight Goodgymmers Emma, Sophie, Milly, James, Sue, Daryl, Keith and Lea, met at TOSH eager to get going. We spread out as several rooms needed painting. Keith was master filler again, looking for holes and making them disappear. Daryl attacked the kitchen backsplash with vigour, so that it shone after he had finished. James opted for the atrium as he spends a lot of time in there during his workshops. And as he said: “then I can look at the room and think: I painted that!”. You certainly did, James. Sue was filling holes as well as painting in the atrium. And Millie, Sophie and Emma, who amazingly managed to get there in spite of busses not turning up, concentrated on painting the meeting room. All this very much appreciated by Cora and Holly who supplied us with delicious Monkey Bread and Garlic and Chilli Jam knot bread…. And with a treat like that, we were left wondering: “when is our next task here?!?!”

Five Goodgymmers, Caprice, Daryl, KC, Keith and Lea, set out in glorious sunshine to drop some flyers in Talbot Village. Caprice took the “flyer drop” rather too literally: not once, twice, no three times did she drop the flyers. Mind you, they were very, as in VERY, slippery! Lea was worried about her DNA being left at potential crime scenes after she cut her hand open on a particularly nasty letterbox. Actually it’s surprising how many awful letterboxes there are! You cannot but feel sympathy for postmen… Many steps were taken, many flyers dropped and some well-earned sustenance at the end of the drop!

Ten Goodgymmers, Sophie, Emma, Millie, James, Caprice, Daryl, Oscar, Martin, Keith and Lea turned up tonight at St Augustin’s church. Ruth there had a “tall” task for us: cleaning the walls at the front of the church and hoovering curtains. Armed with buckets, cloths, towels and hoovers we put in plenty of elbow grease. A tall task?!?! Well… up to a certain height only though! Built in 1891 and a grade II listed building: the walls are higher than high and no ladders allowed. In spite of that: Lea and Keith were on bucket duty, James and James (see photo) had a blast together hoovering! Martin from Goodgym Luton blended in perfectly with the Bournemouth lot. Newcomer Oscar tucked in right away and Sophie, Emma and Millie will hopefully not have sore arms tomorrow, happily scrubbing away there. And, of course, our happy leaders Caprice and Daryl were there getting their ‘goodness-knows-how-maniest’ tasks complete! And well done Martin for spotting the mouse in the pews… At the end of our mission the (lower part of the) walls shone brightly! Thanks everyone for all your hard work.