15 runners turned out in their shroves to the Hub Shop and Café which is part of Swindon Night Shelter. We’ve now helped out at the Hive, the Haven, the Night Shelter itself and now the Hub!

We met at the Oasis on an eggs-tremely wet and cold evening. The getting-to-know-you question this week was, which is our favourite pancake topping? Emma likes a classic lemon and sugar, Tracy went for a chilly topping of Hagen-Daz, Mike doesn’t like them at all and Andrew likes to milk it by topping his pancakes with, well, more pancakes! 'Shriving', linked to Shrove Tuesday is a ritual where people confess sins and receive absolution. Richard confessed he once ate 27 pancakes in one day. There wasn’t much absolution on offer but on the flip side there was a bit of amusement and a lot of admiration. The Guinness World Record is 113 eaten in 8 minutes - come on Richard, you can do it!

It was a run of about 2k to the Hub café with Emma The Trainer leading us, and Sam on backmarker duties. We were worried at one point that we’d lost Teresa. She was nowhere to be seen when several emergency services vehicles whizzed by, but she soon popped up and reassured us that she had not found herself on the wrong side of the law. Phew!

We entered batter weather in the warm and dry glow of the Hub and Becky talked to us about how the Hub Café and Shop have a few important roles. It provides a safe environment to learn skills like customer service and barista skills and gives a ‘soft’ introduction to the world of work – a great way to learn about the working environment in a safe and confidence building way. It also works as a shop and provides much needed income for the other services they provide by selling new items that have been donated.

Tasks this week included cleaning the café area and windows, cleaning the kitchen and bathroom, and removing the stock from the shelves so they could be cleaned and restocked. Cleaning the windows proved a bit more tricky than planned due to all the steam coming from our body heat! In true GoodGym style, we made our own entertainment. Richard was dancing on a chair while cleaning the windows, Stuart was vacuuming everything that moved and creating trip hazards with his lead, and the hobby horses were too much for some of us to resist!

The time for the group photo creped up on us fast. This time, it was not us who were the stars of the show but Richard’s rear (for the second time in the evening!) with his newly customised t-shirt, along with our equine friends. Jo’s mum, who likes to know what she’s been up to each week, even renamed us ‘Hoof Gym’ for the night. I do love a coincidence! Before we left, Stuart made an exciting announcement that he has been paired with an older person for the very first Swindon GoodGym Coach Run- it’s great to get this up and running.

Another great evening! I’m sorry about the pancake puns. The problem is they often fall flat!

For our next group run on Tuesday 12th March, we will be going to Renew, home to 'Men in Sheds', a project that encourages the community to get together to build and restore old furniture. This promises to be a fabulous task. You can sign up here!