This week we were very happy to be returning to Age UK Wiltshire to help with their improvements to Toothill Community Centre.

Emma The Trainer led the speedies, backmarked by Tracey with sat-nav duties performed by Andrew. Sandy Sam led the steadies, backmarked by Jo. We all arrived safely and on time – with all those helping hands we’d have had to hang up our red t-shirts in shame otherwise!

It was a lovely surprise to see the place has been completely transformed since we last visited and is becoming a really great place for the Toothill community, both the young and young-at-heart alike!

One of our tasks was to apply frosty film to some windows, preventing prying eyes from peeking in – we had fun guessing what on earth they would be getting up to!

So ‘Team Frosting’ got to work on cutting the film to size which turned out to be a bit wily and required every hand, elbow and even knee available to keep it under control. The windows needed a quick squirt of water (to activate the stickiness) before peeling the back off and get sticking. Simple! Except ….. things that we now know to be easier than peeling the back off the frosting:

• Running the London marathon backwards
• Completing a Rubik cube wearing a blindfold
• Getting across Swindon’s magic roundabout alive in rush hour traffic on a pogo stick

We (eventually) got sticking but there was another 10 minutes of “to-me, to-you”, “up-a-bit, down-a-bit”, “why isn’t it sticking?”, “WHY ISN’T IT STICKING??!!” before it became apparent there had been a slight mix up in the instructions and we’d put the non-sticky side to the windows. As one person put it “All the gear, no idea!”

Over in ‘Team Scrambled Egg’ they were having troubles of their own. Their task was to paint walls yellow and doors grey. Another simple sounding task, but how did they manufacture paint that has not only the colour but the consistency of scrambled eggs? Not to be put off by this eggstraordinary substance, we cracked on.

Both paints turned out to be a bit eggsplosive and we feared that several red t-shirts had perished in battle.

Our number one fan, Jo’s mum, avidly follows our adventures each week and during a post-run de-brief heard about our splattered t-shirts and shared her top laundry tips. Water based paint should be soaked in washing liquid and oil based should be dabbed (not rubbed) with turps and then soaked in detergent. So there you have it - thanks Jo’s mum!

There was a lot of painting to do and we do like to finish a job, no eggscuses. With five minutes to go everyone eggselerated a bit to get as much egg, I mean paint, on the walls as possible. Sorry, for the over use of egg puns, but one is never un ouef!

Before heading back this week we were in for a real treat as the lovely Bernice had prepared tea, cakes and biscuits. Should we be eating and drinking before a longish run – yes! We laugh in the face of bellies full of yummy cake and tea. We are GoodGym after all!

Tune in next week to find out…. will the next run report have any bad egg puns? Will word spread that we work best when there is promise of CAKE? Will Jo’s mum’s tips save the lives of even more red t-shirts?

More hot dates for your diary:

Community Mission – Friday 12th Friends of Wroughton Primary Federation need our help at their Fun Run! GoodGym Swindon have been invited not only to do a fun warm up with the children, but we have also been asked to start the run and hand out medals to all the finishers! Arrive at 4.15pm. Sign up here!

Community Mission – Saturday 13th Simon at Christ Church needs our help! There is lots of gardening to be done so why not join Richard from GG Swindon's Task Force and give a helping hand that day? With an 11am start you can still fit in parkrun and coffee before heading over! Sign up here!

Group Run – Tuesday 16th We will going to the Victoria Centre at Great Western Hospital to help with a much-needed gardening task in one of their internal gardens. The Victoria Centre offers Later Life Inpatient Services, supporting and treating older patients with dementia, affective disorder and psychosis. This is a longer run, so to make it accessible we have the 3 options:

1. 13k run, there and back at 6pm from Oasis with the ‘Speedies’
2. 13k run, there and back at 6pm from Oasis with the ‘Steadies’
3. 3k walk, there and back at 6.30pm from Coate Water Country Park with the walking group

Sign up here!