Monday 24th September 2018
Report written by Anji Andrews (she/her)
So much energy tonight for our return visit to Eslington House for Changing Lives!
After our flat pack adventure last week we made a return trip over the Redheugh Bridge to Eslington House where there was less building and more scrubbing as we lent 23 pairs of hands to a double deep clean in the kitchens. Eslington House provides short-term housing to vulnerable young people in Newcastle and Gateshead and is a brilliant hidden gem that really changes lives.
We were really excited to welcome two newbies Molly and Evan and it was great to welcome GoodGym uber-tourist Al who was one of the original founders of GoodGym Newcastle. We all marvelled at the sight of his black tshirt and gave Paul a big clap as tonight on his 25th good deed means he's half way towards it! It's so brilliant to chat to someone who has done so many good deeds in different places and I will keep everything crossed that we were one of his favourites!
I tried my best to keep my distance from the poorly trio of Paul, Dave and Andrew who have varying degrees of the lurgy and managed to get everyone safely and happily over the bridge and through the underpasses to Gateshead ready for the task. After a quick intro from the task owner at Eslington House it was a quick split into teams and off to work. No flat pack furniture to build tonight, marigolds on instead.
There were cupboards to clean, windows to sheen, ovens to scrub and Tom had the hardest task of not eating a very inviting-looking cherry pie from the fridge. Faye did her new favourite job of window-cleaning, Katy learned a valuable lesson with a futuristic-looking Hoover and Rachel had an unenviable encounter with a bin. It was amazing to see the difference we made in both kitchens in just 25 minutes as they were sparkling and smelling a hundred times better. A few of the residents joined us for some mobility drills in the courtyard then it was on with the head torches and into groups for speed play on the way back.
Shout out to Louise for having the disco-est safety lights. I may provide some heavy dance music next week for us to have a rave on the way back.
The energy for the fitness session tonight was brilliant, two teams storming back to the city centre with various speedy intervals and reps of the underpass steps on the way. Well done!
Thanks for a massive excellent session tonight where we really made a difference. Sign up for our Spectacular Session with Scope next week here There's also our monthly Community Mission this Saturday if you fancy getting involved.
Have a great week. Happy running!