‘Its amazing. I can’t believe the difference you’ve made” as nine Muscles volunteers complete a pensioners dream !

Felixstowe pensioner, Debs, is assisted by Alan Seaman as she places the final slab in a new garden feature built by the Muscles team on Saturday 6th October 2018.
Nine volunteers, lead for the first time by Adam Osborne, worked for several hours to help transform the rear garden of her Felixstowe home.

In addition to clearing parts of the garden, (above), the team’s combination of hard work and good humour, resulted in a wooden pergola being constructed, plus a circular pattern of paving slabs surrounded by shingle inside a rectangular base.

Special thanks to everyone concerned, especially Steve for ‘overseeing’ the sundial construction, Adam for his prep work and leadership and Phil (not in the picture) for organizing the refreshments.

The delighted Debs subsequently wrote – “Once again I can’t thank you enough for the miracle you performed in my garden. All of my friends are also suitably impressed and amazed. The pergola is already decked out with lights and will be covered weird and wonderful stuff shortly..
Once I have a final bill for materials I shall be making a donation to Blue Cross. Many, many thanks and it was a pleasure to meet you all.
Debs

Finally a special mention and note of thanks to ‘Vera‘ ! As the team were well staffed, they were also able to complete some garden clearance tasks and remove unwanted items to the local tip, in the back of Nick’s trusty Volvo, ‘Vera’.  A Muscles life-saver on many occasions.

Muscles project number – 405                                                                                                           Total voluntary hours – 15,342

 

 

Twelve volunteers involved in garden makeover for Sammamish, WA seniors.

An overcast early Fall Saturday morning in Sammamish, WA and twelve Muscles volunteers, plus two enthusiastic young members, completed a garden makeover for Alan and Jeanie Mebane.

The team included Spokane based, Neal Skaufel (277 miles from home) and Muscles co-founder, East End Ed – 4,782 miles from his London home.

The before and after photos (above) only show the front of the project. The team worked on all four sides of the detached house, causing Alan and Jeanie to remark, ” Yeaah Muscles Team!  What a splendid job everyone did, individually and collectively “.

Footnote, as Muscles for Charity celebrates its 20th anniversary, this project marks the fact that all the founding members have now completed jobs in the UK, USA and Belgium.

Muscles team at the seaside use an alligator during a garden makeover, but no bucket and spades or fish ‘n chips on the beach !

Felixstowe beach on a beautiful summer weekend morning.  Relaxing and bracing.

A short distance from the beach nine Muscles volunteers removed and disposed of a number of conifers from a pensioners garden. Photo (below) features Diana’s garden before the team arrived.

 

The job was made easier with the use of an Alligator (also known as a ‘farm jack’ ), donated by the recipient of a job earlier this year and much appreciated given the unusually high temperatures this summer – and that Saturday in particular.

The conifers were disposed of in one journey to Felixstowe Municipal Recycling centre, where the helpful supervisor recognized the MFC Charity status and made no charge.

The charity benefiting from the teams efforts was National Ankylosing Spondilitus Society, close to the heart of the delighted recipient, Diana.        Nice job, guys !

 

‘Mates’ complete Muscles fencing project

Spring tree and shrub growth beside this rural cottage required the attention and strength of Muscles ‘mates’ during a scorching two part clearance that coincided with the final stages of the 2018 World Cup competition.

Special thanks from Adam and Katie to Bernie, Kevin, David, Ian, Alan T, Nick, Ed and Phil.

Muscles at Martlesham (UK) complete a garden make over.

Meet the ‘Gang of 8’ (not including photographer Bernie Morgan) Muscles volunteers who descended on Tricia Higgins bungalow in Martlesham on Saturday 9th June. Working like a well oiled machine they quickly undertook the prepared list of tasks presented by the host – Tricia.

Supplied with tea/coffee and cake the team worked tirelessly to make sure the garden makeover was up to the teams high standards.

Bernie commented, ‘I am always impressed of how the team compliments each other’s abilities, consuming any and all tasks with such tenacity and guile !’

Tricia commented, ” Great to see everyone again and a MASSIVE THANK YOU for all your hard work, I have to keep going into the garden and looking how different it is! Once again, please pass on my thanks and best wishes to all the team”.

Bonus of the day – the team completed a recce for Tricia’s neighbour, Pat, and quickly assessed that the they could complete the job there and then (removal of a massive overgrown shrub and 3 inch thick ivy ).

Tricia generous donation add a new name to the growing list of charities and non profits benefiting from the teams work – Hillside Animal Research.

Tricia also donated a new ‘Alligator’ Black and Decker saw to the Muscles team. On behalf of the team, Bernie thanked Tricia for the saw which will now be used to benefit other recipients of Muscles work.

 

Saturday 12th May – Muscles records shattered as team members top 15,000 voluntary hours, 400 projects and celebrate 20 years !

Saturday 12th May 2018 represented a landmark  for Muscles for Charity.

Teams of volunteers working in three different countries contributed in excess of 230 hours of work resulting in our overall total reaching above 15,000 voluntary hours and completed projects topping 400 jobs.  All this as we celebrate our 20th anniversary year.

Congratulations and appreciation to everyone involved on this historic day.

In Belgium an international team worked at the 12th century Tongerlo Monastery, (featured above) whilst a large UK team transformed a garden in Ipswich. As the Belgian and British teams completed their projects the sun was rising over the Pacific Northwest of the USA where volunteers replaced railroad ties in a driveway at Kirkland, WA.

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In 2018, the Monastery is celebrating its 888 year anniversary. Joining the Belgian Muscles team were volunteers from the UK and USA. Together fifteen people tackled a series of projects inside the monastery’s extensive walled gardens under the guidance of Brother Gabriel, featured (below) with Barry and Suzanne from the USA, Ed from the UK and Belgian ‘Captain’ Johan.

The task of transforming areas of the monastery gardens involved the usual mix of fun, friendship and humour.

Brother Gabriel commented on the Muscles activity,

‘Muscles for charity did it again in Tongerlo Abbey: great work in the garden
with a smile and very helpfull last Saturday.
In name of the abbot and the whole community thank you very much for your work
and your friendship.
All the best greetings from Tongerlo,

fr. Gabriël
honorymember of Muscles for Charity

Additional information and photographs feature on the 2018 Muscles Belgium page – visit https://musclesforcharity.wordpress.com/belgium/belgium2018/

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In Ipswich, UK, the Muscles volunteers worked with representatives from Rotary to transform a rear garden area.  (Two photos before the project started below)

Muscles co-founder, Phil Boswell, provides and insight to the project and the volunteers,

“Personally, I don’t think they do justice to how hard the whole team worked. Every single one of them was magnificent and they were very ably assisted by 5 additional staff, supplied by Ipswich Rotary Club (a really friendly bunch, with MFC-like enthusiasm and application)”.

Additional information and photographs feature on the 2018 Muscles UK page – visit https://musclesforcharity.wordpress.com/muscles-uk/uk-2018/

117 hours of work were donated by the Muscles volunteers and five Rotary members.  The client (via our Rotary friends) was Leone who is featured with her year old baby and mother.

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On the west coast of the USA a smaller team were busy removing ageing railroad ties in a driveway entrance and replaced them with concrete slabs.  The before, during and after sequence is shown below.

Frank, Amy, Susan, Glenna and Bish’s Saturday morning work out resulted in a donation to a local pet shelter, Homeward Pet Adoption Center in Woodinville, WA.

Running, Biking, walking – Muscles members involved in charity and community events during the first weekend of May 2018 – in two countries.

arMuscles for Charity volunteers have been involved in raising money and awareness for American Diabetes since 2004. The Tour de Cure is a series of fund-raising cycling events held in forty states nationwide to benefit the American Diabetes Association.

The ride can be challenging, but is not a race. Each location’s ride routes are designed for everyone from the occasional rider to the experienced cyclist. In the Pacific Northwest riders chose from routes covering 100, 63, 30 or 12 miles. This year Glenna, Amy, Frank and Bish chose to operate a Rest Stop in the beautiful Snohomish River Valley countryside of Washington State. (Photo features the scene at 5am)

Fun at the Rest Stop and complimentary refreshment for all volunteers at the conclusion of the event at Chateau St Michelle winery in Woodinville.

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In western Washington, Spokane hosted the annual Bloomsday ‘Run or Walk’ 12k event which attracted over 42,000 registered entrants, from international professional runners to families and children.

The logo on the guys black t shirt in the photo (above) is ‘The End is Beer’

The charity event raises money and awareness for a number of local non-profit organizations. The ‘Muscles contingent’ was again led by Muscles and Bloomsday Veteran, Neal Skaufel who completed his 30th run since 1987. The photo features three generations of his family and Muscles members Steve and Amy Milliken.

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At the same time, 4,662 miles away, four Muscles members were taking part in the Kesgrave 5k Fun Run, proudly wearing their tee shirts from the 2017 ‘Brit Invasion of the Pacific Northwest’.  True Story.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone involved in the events, combining the Muscles ethos of volunteering and supporting non profits.

Boat cleaning in a small east coast harbor overlooked by a rural Pub – the latest Muscles project, benefits the RNLI !

A ferry ran for hundreds of years across the River Deben at Ramsholt near the east coast of Suffolk, within three miles of the North Sea. Overlooking the small jetty and quay, the present day Ramsholt Arms public house, (pictured above) was originally known as the Ferry House and a well known ‘Smugglers Den’.

Today the river has become an attraction for sailors and one of the major sailing centres on the east coast; the moorings support over 200 craft including retired skipper Richard Clarke’s, ‘Will Laude’, pictured below with Muscles ‘marine specialists’ Nick and Adam. Ably assisted by Colin Booker, the trio, starting at 8am (through to 3pm) cleaned the boat, (named after an infamous local 19th century smuggler) tied to the quay as the high water dropped.

Richard commented that their efforts had surpassed his expectations and congratulated them on completing in a single day a job that normally took two people three days!
Demonstrating his gratitude, Richard’s chosen non-profit was a donation to the Aldeburgh lifeboat.

Aldeburgh Lifeboat.

 

Muscles volunteers spring into action.

Following Steve and Beckies Muscles ‘Wedding of the Year’ on Easter Saturday in rural Suffolk attended by volunteers from the UK, Belgium and the USA, a team of twelve descended on Grange Farm, and settled into a familiar work pattern on 7th April, attracting traveling members from Cheshire and Leytonstone.

The mission – demolish and remove an existing garden shed and replace it with a new one.  No problem.  Combining the usual mix of humour, friendship and hard work, the job was completed in four hours.

 

More photo’s are featured on the UK Muscles 2018 page, (including the wedding) at https://musclesforcharity.wordpress.com/muscles-uk/uk-2018/  – and the person who made a ‘real difference’ ! plus Boz Junior, the visiting team member from Cheshire.

Message to the team from the delighted recipient, Trish Leggett,

“To just say “thank you ” to all these wonderful guys is simply not enough. They arrived in force on Saturday to dismantle my garden shed and after a quick coffee (or rather a strong tea for Bernie! ) off they went.
Their team work is amazing and together with their various areas of expertise , my old shed was gone and after some much needed refreshments, up went the new one !!!. I am THRILLED with it.
I feel so privileged to know this group of people and proud to be able to call them friends.
THANK YOU GUYS. I LOVE YOU ALL. Xx

 

Winter weather disrupts Muscles schedules on both sides of the Atlantic, but exciting jobs are on the horizon, . . .

The majority of Muscles for Charity projects involve teams working outside. Winter storms on both sides of the Atlantic prevented the respective teams from starting jobs. However, the Spring of 2018 provides exciting possibilities from Seattle to the Belgian countryside where the Abbey at Tongerlo celebrates its 888 year anniversary.

Brother Gabriel displays his prepared list of jobs and the Belgian team welcome any/all Muscles volunteers to join them at the Abbey during the weekend 12/13th May 2018.

In the Seattle area, volunteers are again involved in the Tour de Cure, whilst the UK team are preparing a large garden project, courtesy of Rotary International.