This litter picking task had been in doubt due to the weather forecast, but we decided to plough ahead, especially because Abbie had decided to join us. It had been quite a mild morning, but true to form, our end of Storm Aiden unleashed itself just as we collectively arrived. I found Jonny on the way to the Jamboree Stone. He had run to the park in his GoodGym top and shorts, and was now soaked through. So, he had to turn his pick into a plog, or at Jonny’s pace it is more like a plun on his way back home to dry off, and I got my far more appropriate waterproof coat, GoodGym sweatshirt and wellies on to join Amy and Abbie. We got ourselves very wet and muddy as we pushed through the bushes and brambles, finding cans, bottles and the odd abandoned shoe. It had taken quite a while to all meet up in the weather conditions so we did well to fill two bags in a seemingly clean and clear park. We dropped off our bags at the car park and made our way to the next Community Mission of the day. We promise Abbie that we will find you a task soon where you don’t get soaked in the rain!

On a night with the kind of rain that would put off the most committed of runners, we welcomed not one, not two but three new runners to our GoodGym community. Paul signed up and joined us after having signed up twice to the Community Mission in Winson Green that has had to be cancelled two weeks in a row, to get his first task under his belt. Caroline signed up very quickly when the task was listed and wasn’t going to let a bit of rain stop her. It’s difficult to think of Abbie as new to GoodGym, as she has already managed three tasks in just over a week, but she is feeling part of the furniture already. As another positive sign, she brought her partner, Michael, along for his first good deed and he was equally enthusiastic in the difficult conditions. It was great to catch up again with Balal, who once again stepped in at the last minute to set up the canal litter pick as a last minute replacement. We picked along our stretch of the canal up to Aston Lock, filling eight bags up to the brim. I can vouch for how full and heavy they were as we had already filled up three bags by our first grot spot and I had to take them down to Aston Lock early so they didn’t have to be carried while we picked. We really did get a soaking part way through, but it was great to be out doing some good with such positive people. As Caroline put it, if we’ve had these conditions for the first one, all the rest are going to be easy! Here’s to many more, I hope to see you all again soon.

I didn’t get a call to work so I joined Abbie and Katie at our first community mission back with TAWS, as they recommence sending out food parcels around the city. After initially finding it difficult to find the entrance, I was in with some donations of bags piled up from online shopping deliveries. I helped to put together three bulk orders of food to be collected by community groups who are distributing food. Abbie and Katie took on lots of different jobs, including stocking up one of the cupboards, adding miscellaneous items to the food parcel packing area and unboxing the toiletries and filling up the shelves. We did our bit for the time we could spare and it was good to see the emergency food response up and running again, even though it signifies that many are in need again.

Six of us met at Golden Square in the Jewellery Quarter for the last of three litter picks in a week in the area. As we assembled we were joined (or was it crashed) by Abbie and Katie, who had seen the original flyer for the JQBID litter pick and had committed so much to the idea that they decided to head out and see if they could join in or make it happen even though the original event had been cancelled. Well, that’s exactly the kind of people we like at GoodGym so we made sure they didn’t have time to change their minds and set them up with bag and litter pick. But that wasn’t the half of it as Amy had brought along the delightful Luna, who she was dog sitting, to help us sniff out the dumping grounds. So with seven Goodgymers and a dog in tow, we set off down Vyse Street, which was refreshingly clear, and turned into some equally clean back streets. After a calm start, we began to find where the strong winds had taken the discarded rubbish, and Jonny had some bag troubles as the wind caught his light pickings and threw them all out of his bag onto the road. Not the most auspicious start, but we began to find some bottles and cans to weigh the bags down, and some nice new small cafes and restaurants to try along the way. We began to form two groups to get as many roads as possible cleared. I joined Balal and Liam, who had come out on his lunch break while working from home. We met up with the others, who also had Annie in the group, as we had all looped back to Golden Square. From there we took two different directions up to Camden Street, which is a notoriously litter strewn road in the area. Our group passed 1000 Trades on the way, to make it feel as though we were on a good old Group Run, before we all met up again by The Pig and Tail, where we dropped off 6 bags full to the brim at our drop off point. Welcome to GoodGym both of our new members, we hope you enjoyed it and that we see you for many more tasks. Later on, we found out that Luna had crashed out completely after the walk around the JQ, keeping an eye on us all had taken its toll. I wonder if it was the same for our task crashers and the others, it certainly was for me as I took a well needed rest later on.