A crisp Monday night, the pavements eerily clear, the bright crescent moon watching from above and the freezing frosts creeping in. The scene was set.....for a thriller of a night! (or should we say Chiller)

9 hardy souls came ready for this week's task which involved working in partnership with the fantastic Willesden Town Team Community Volunteers, for a bit of housekeeping and cleaning up of Willesden High Road.

The order of the day was to clear the litter/come fly tip which is nestled between GoodGym Brent's very own meeting point, The Queensbury Pub and Katie's Restaurant, a local community hub site. The ultimate goal for the evening was to clear the debris, however, as our fabulous host Abraham explained, this was only the beginning........Upon request of the Willesden Town Team, GG Brent were to take this on as our summer challenge! As the evenings grow lighter we can begin the deforestation of dead trees foliage and then begin to plant some beautiful wild flowers in their wake. The local community passers by, will not only benefit from the newly beautiful plans, but it will also make way for a space to hold a community market on a Sunday if we succeed. What a fantastic challenge to accept! So we got stuck in for phase one!

With the task being on our doorstep, there wasnt long to travel. A quick meet and greet and then the group stepped out to be met with a scene similar to something out of a James Bond movie. The lovely Abraham playing the part of our very own agent Q had neatly and precisely laid out the equipment for the job and after being armed with snazzy grabbers and rubber gloves the group were ready to conduct some surgical levels of sprucing up. Up for the challenge it was something we couldn't...... REFUSE

With litter nestled amongst the grass and the trees the team had to be eagle eyed but made short work of picking away at the tin cans, plastic wrappers and bottles that had become a sight for sore eyes on this patch of land in the heart of town.

Frozen fingers and multiple bags of collected litter acted as the evenings trophies and testimony to the hard work that had been done. To prove that the effort was noticed, no longer had the task been completed that a kind member of the public, the manager of a nearby business, came over to express what a difference the group had made. Result!!!

Feeling a sense of achievement even before hitting the road or running out of breath, the group waved goodbye to our marathon runner in training, Sadhana, to continue on to the run. After some early jogging the group was ready to step it up and although unbeknownst at the time, what was meant to be a short distance would become something slightly more challenging. As they say, 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating', and Coach Ellie had a cunning plan to demonstrate the power of the mind to the group (unfortunately this didn't involve pudding).

Instead, the route was suddenly altered midway to a slightly longer distance to show the group how the mind can adjust to any challenge put before it. This masterful stroke pushed the group into beast mode as the high inclines and cold concrete was eaten up underfoot in record time.

Now that everyone had witnessed the resolve within the mind, it was time to push on, and there was only one thing left to combat the low-temperatures...High-temporuns! The group blazed up the length of Out of p-uffington road at the end of which was only a silent and out-of-breath knowing, a mutual understanding in the group of the momentous achievement that had been undertaken together.

Feeling on top of the world, the group powered through the return leg on to the way to the promised land of the Queensbury Pub where a few well earned stretches marked the end of a night of doing good and going hard. The night was capped off with a quick drink in the cosy surroundings and discussions over beers and teas of everything from Polish salt mines to smoothy blending, soup machines We are an interesting bunch aren't we!!A well earned end to a great night!

Until next time...