The plan for last night’s task was to have been painting fences at Berry Brow Infant School. However the heavy rain would have been washing away any paint quicker than we could put it on, consequently Katrina from the school had to be inventive and come up with another job for GoodGym at short notice.

By the time we had completed the 2K run to reach the school, all 8 of us GoodGymmers were already pretty wet, but Katrina’s characteristically warm welcome lifted our dampened spirits. One of the great things about GoodGym is that generally people are always very happy to see you when you arrive to do a job!

So whilst there was no painting to be done, the school’s Birthday Garden needed a trip and tidy up, a job which could be done in a downpour. It is not entirely clear why the Birthday Garden is so called, but what was clear was it would benefit from a little GoodGym attention, and a crew of 8 there was a good chance we could make a real difference in the time slot available.

Resisting the (very strong) temptation to stay in the warm and drink tea, we were all swiftly on the job. Kati Law and first time GoodGymmer Wendy Redmire got to work on a particularly wild looking flowerbed, whilst Katrina Crossley and Helen Rutherford neatly trimmed a Laurel hedge taking care on some extremely slippery decking. Mark Donnelley cut back some bushes, whilst Louise Galvin, Katrina Whale and myself wrestled weeds from between paving slabs, all accompanied by the sound (and feel) of the incessantly heavy rain.

After 45 minutes of hard labour we were definitely wet, possibly a bit cold, but feeling satisfied that we’d done a top job and that it was better to be out doing good than in and feeling bad about not being out doing good (or indeed watching Take That at the Stadium, which had been Huddersfield’s other top attraction last night). Saying our farewells to Katrina and promising to return and paint her fence in the hopefully more clement conditions of September, we set off back to Lockwood Park. There were no complaints at my proposal for a shortened relatively direct route, although the rain had eased a little by then, and by the the time 8 soggy runners were stretching in the car park it had largely stopped.

Thanks to everyone who braved the conditions last night, it was great to have 8 runners out GoodGymming. I shall hope to see you all again next Tuesday!

Thanks to Helen Rutherford to the run report title.