Birthday run

Last night was GoodGym Waltham Forest's first birthday, and we celebrated in style with a fantastic blend of long termers, long lost friends, recent recruits and one GG VIP! In no particular order welcome back to Joanna "Long Lost" Loxton, welcome to Manuela for the second time on two weeks and welcome to Beth Hoskins. It was Beth's first outing with GGWF but her 709th Good Deed with GoodGym - yes that's right folks, say it again, Seven Hundred and Nine!

Anyhoo, before I get into the events of last night here, is some brief news items:

This Saturday why not join Ruari "99 Parkruns and counting" Rhodes and me at Walthamstow Parkrun for a free timed 5k? Starts at 9 am and don't forget your GG t-shirt!

Good luck to Carmen and Ruby in this weekend's Brighton Marathon. Can't wait to hear all about it and I know you are both going to do GGWF proud.

Okay well, I am not going to go on too much here because in a moment we are going to ditch my halting prose and I will hand you over to the more elegant poetry of Kirsty Jones. Before that, I want to say a massive thank you to Pippa who worked hard last night to produce a cake that was stunning to look at and even more stunning to eat. It was everything a great cake should be perfectly moist, sweet, smooth and full of delightfully rich flavours. Thank you too to everyone who came to George Mason Lodge Last night and to everyone out there who has made it such a fantastic year for GGWF. You are all amazing people, and it is a privilege to know you all.

Okay enough from me. The following poem was written by regular runner Kirsty who read it to us last night in the pub over cakes and beer. What could be better than that? Over to you Kirsty.

Since our first head count, standing right here
Every Wednesday night we've run to do good
Spreading Good Gym spirit through our neighbourhood
We've shovelled at St Mary's to better the grounds
Created a rainbow fence and sandcastle mounds
We've plogged the banks of Lea Bridge road
Collecting bags of hubcaps, a heavy load
Spectated by locals, horses and dogs
While completing our tasks and during our jogs
We've painted and planted at The Mill
Built wooden planters ready to fill
One important job that we tried not to bodge
Was meticulous landscaping at George Mason Lodge
We cleaned toys, pulled weeds, painted a door,
Barrowed compost, picked litter and so so much more
Ant very busy taking photos all the while
"Guys can you quickly pose behind the rubbish and smile?"
But it's not all about the good deeds, not just about the run
We've also had laughs and barrow fulls of fun
We hosted our first social at Mirth Marvel and Maude
To the first year of many now let us applaud
Raise high your glasses and don't be modest
Give up three cheers for Good Gym Waltham Forest!

☮️