Monday 10th June 2019
Report written by Richmond runner
No good deed can be deterred by the rain...an unbelievable 10 runners braved the down pour to to good last night.
Meeting at Wholefoods we were dressed ready for a wet weekend of camping , once together we welcomed Olivia on her first run, congratulated Anita who had not only completed the Thorpe Park triathlon at the weekend and STILL came to Goodgym tonight but had also recently achieved her 55th GG run on her 55 brithday!!! Plus JP was just back from a trip in India and after 4 connecting flights home we couldn't believe he was still standing let alone running...and at the front!
To warm up, Mark found a secret undercover spot , which was perfect for tonights conditions. After we warmed up we couldn't put it off, we had to face the rain in order to run to Twickenham to help out Heatham House youth club.
Dancing in the rain #goodgym #richmond #heathamhouse #skatepark #litterpick #tidyup #twickenham #afc #volunteering #runninggroup #doinggood pic.twitter.com/D4E4fTHgfp
— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) June 11, 2019
Heatham House is a fantastically resourced and staffed youth centre in the heart of Twickenham with a packed weekly programme of universal sessions for young people in Primary School year 5 up to the age of 19 years old. Session activities include football, basketball, art, cooking, music production, pool, table-tennis, table-football, band rehearsals, instrument tuition available, skate park, Tae Kwon Do and much more.
Tonight we were asked to sweep the litter and the leaves from their skate park and football pitch. As we waited for bags we formed piles of plastic bottles, card, crisp packets and all sorts of wonderful treasures and then even separated the rubbish from what could be recycled and our very own Wonder Woman Nat offered to carry the two full bin bags of plastic away and dump them in her local recycling...a real local hero!
After about half an hour the bin bags were full and the park was clearer and cleaner for the kids to use - it was a "sweeping success and the grounds were now "pitch perfect". After some fun pictures by and under some incredibly impressive trees we found somewhere to dump the rubbish and head back to Rlchmond. We ran in the rain talking of hot showers and hot chocolate - I'm sorry did you say it was June?? Thankfully although we were wet through by the end of the evening we had braved it as a team, and I felt proud to have ventured out in such terrible conditions and still done good! With a great group of people running with me , I honestly hardly noticed the downpour. Well done Storm Force 10!
Richmond
Volunteer at the first Richmond Mind Mental Elf Run to help raise funds