Welcome to 2020 one and all.

As if to mark the occasion GoodGym Waltham Forest moved home over the Christmas break, and today we set off from our fabulous new base, Greenleaf Road Baptist Church. These luxuriant surroundings come with comfy sofas, a chill-out room with table tennis, decent changing rooms and the melodic sounds of a local choir group down the hall. Tonight we were treated to Downtown, originally a Petula Clarke hit back in the day.

With a new home and a new year, I was hoping for a new runner and my wish was granted when Charlie joined our group tonight. Great to see you, Charlie, I hope you are going to help us kill this January Challenge by joining us for a spot of painting next week!

I did shed a tear for the demise of our former home. The marvellous Mirth, Marvel and Mauad shut down at the weekend, but I gather it will reopen after some renovations at some indeterminate date.

Anyhoo, with all these opulent new surroundings, it was hard to prise ourselves away from the warmth and comfort of GLRBT but prise we did as we burst forth into the night and headed for another holy location, St Mary's Church up in Walthamstow Village. Actually, our task was at the Welcome Centre next door and who doesn't like a spot of gardening on a cold damp January night?

Attack of the plants

We let me tell you this was no ordinary gardening task. As we walked through the gate and with just the eerie light of a few head torches for company, we entered a domain where plants had well and truly taken over. Man (and woman) sized weeds loomed large from cracks in the paving. In the shadows, claw-like branches seemed poised ready to entangle unsuspecting humans who dared to draw too near.

Undeterred by the little shop of horrors, our plucky crew set to work. It was touch and go for a while, but eventually, GoodGym prevailed, and the plants were vanquished. It was a sight to behold as probably half a ton of organic matter was eventually piled up on the compost heap.

To round off the evening we did slow, medium and fast reps of the churchyard nearby before heading back to our lovely new home for a chill-out and a chat.

January Challenge

Don't forget to sign-up for next week's run - a lovely warm indoor task. We are going to crush the January Challenge.

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