Tonight we met in the fading light of what was Daveena's Cafe and now Cafe Hub.

We all pondered on layers, no layers, more, less and none at all before heading off towards the park gates, feeling a change of seasons we had not yet adjusted to.

We were delighted to head into the park and be greeted by an incredible skyline that could not be seen from the road. You could not take your eyes off the changing colours and shapes of clouds. Thankfully tonight everyone was happy to just plod along so we could stop many times for pictures. The water reflections were stunning and showed such a beautiful image.

As Patricia pointed out, if it wasn't for running, we would not be out tonight!

Sunsets hold an incredible power over humanity, watching them makes time appear to slow down. They remind you of how truly superior Mother Earth is, they make you feel grateful to be alive and inspire!

We ran along Baitor watching the changing colours and towards the planters at the station. Jane was the key person for tonight, she had purchased bulbs and plants ready to go into the planters and was ready with buckets and gloves on! (Well not wearing the buckets...she is not that bonkers... yet!)

It was marvellous (found my thesaurus!) to see Sarah, the first time since pre Covid. A now retired nurse, she is discovering the new world of, well leisure and tourism. We were also greeted at plant base (!) by Nicola whose efforts to rest between half marathons meant she was only gracing us for gardening. But always happy to get her hands dirty in the process!

We planted both planters (where my thesaurus?!) with thankfully the experts on hand to decipher the weeds from the plants (yes that is you Christine and Patricia. Meanwhile Robert, Andrew and Esther tried very hard not to get it confused!

Planters done, we headed onto the Quay to see the other planters on the front. We had said we would try and keep these watered here too. They were full of weeds so we took the opportunity to get the gloves back on, ready to fight the green (or in this case, not so green). 10 mins later, we were happy to empty our bag of weeds and head off into the still dark night with lights twinkling on the Quay.

Well done to Sarah for getting back to her running with us tonight, we hope to see you again soon!

Lovely job people - Completely outdone by that sunset however!

Community A core value of Goodgym and tonight there was bucket loads of exactly that- Community Spirit - everywhere you looked!

Tonight, for the first time, Goodgym Poole joined up with local running club, Oakdale Runners, on what is hopefully, the start of many future partnerships. Oakdale Runners (OR's) has as its the core a friendly, warm group of runners who are supportive, inclusive and want to have some fun! Lucie, a recently qualified Coach and leader at OR, approached Goodgym and suggested a joint evening with a social to finish - and of course we jumped at the chance! Many of Goodgym runners are also Oakdale Runners so it is not all new to everyone! Lucie also suggested Robs Filling Station as a base, and they agreed to open just for us! Rob's Filling Station started as a community mission in itself! Rob and Uncle Mick started using the forecourt of the garage in the pandemic. They volunteered to make up hot meals for the 500 homeless in the area that had been housed in hotels but not getting hot food. It wasn't even a business offering food at this point! By an amazing karma, providence or just call it community spirit, these meals ended up being fulled funded by donations from local people, without even an request for funds! A generous kind offer to provide those meals, turned into a unplanned business venture of the self proclaimed 'tent in a car park' that is now Rob's Filling Station. They serve up Paella, Pizza, Pasta, Breakfasts and even a roast to the local community who are in turn spreading the word of the good food, friendly reception and quirkiness of the roadside cafe!

We all met at Rob's before heading over to the grass area for the traditional Goodgym Warm Up - Your name and Number! 19 all present and correct, before the skips and hops across the pathways! Onto the nearby roads of Oakdale which provided a great space to do some short lamppost running with speed, enough to get heart racing and improving that form! There was even the opportunity for steps over the railway bridge as we regrouped.

We arrived at The Old Town Children's Centre to see already regular team members Jane and Patricia in full painting swing on the gate whilst Andrew had started on the other end!

We were soon dividing into groups, as task owners Clair and Helen always come both fully prepared with tools and equipment!

Lucie, Emma, Sian, Marbellys and Lynne were quickly onto fence painting with the others. The fence had never been painted and had no primer so it was a lengthy task, despite only being small! It took full 50 mins to complete with extra hands coming in, if that had been one person it would have taken over 6 hours to do!

Tamar, Becky and Helen took on the bravest task - a flat packed sandbox! The fear of making it upside down is real I have no doubt! Team work was the only way (and the instructions!) and it was completed and ready to go by end of task - Mission Completed!

Sue, Joanne and Debbie were so keen on getting those weeds on the garden area, at one point the bushes appeared to having the last laugh with Debbie disappearing into one! Emma was spotted in many places getting her hands dirty so all great to have everyone just get on with it!

Christine, Elizabeth and Hannah, regular Goodgym members, worked quietly in the background whilst Robert and Sian found many a weed to bag! The best find was from Janet who spotted the dead plant actually contained a healthy looking potato!

Task completed with a sandbox, a now blue fence and many bag fulls of weeds - It was time for pizza! A quick mile back to Rob's where another 20 ORs were already enjoying a pizza post their run!

A really fantastic way to introduce others to what we do at Goodgym, we hope to see many of you again!

Let's keep that community spirit going!

It was a cold winter night when we arrived at Branksome to meet Jon.

Marie was already playing basketball with Jon to keep warm as the task started in the MUGA (Multi Use Games Area). Extra kudos for the cycle down as well Marie!

Andrew, a last minute entry into the group, joined us after not been since lockdown. Great to see you Andrew and well done for getting back to running again tonight!

Sian and Robert took on the outside of the MUGA whilst Marie and myself, Esther took on the side of the building. We had cleared this a few weeks ago but it was full again and this time it was muddy, wet leaves! It wasn't long before we had many bags full (and heavy) as well as litter cleared from the side entrance.

Jon, the volunteer from the centre was also lending a helping hand and once the front of the MUGA was cleared, it was down the side pathway!

We filled 10 bags of leaves up and the area was looking a lot clearer and less of a slip hazard as well.

To keep warm, we all headed off (Inc Jon from the centre - a recent running convert!) for a steady run around the undulating streets of Parkstone! It was a delight just to run, chatter, look at the lights and generally enjoy some company In a light hearted way. Jon took the lead from about half way, giving us a tour of the back streets of Parkstone which actually is full of so many lovely little cottage style houses!

Andrew, his first run since March did great! The hills were no match for Sian who merrily danced her way to the top! It was also the first time Jon had been on a group run so we hope he will join us again in future!

Lovely to see all your faces!

Before 9 on a lovely sunny morning a small but enthusiastic Goodgym group gathered in front of St Aldhem’s church to be briefed by David, the volunteer church gardener, and allocated their individual socially distanced tasks. Mike, with the electric clippers, tackled the front hedge, which was looking quite exuberant. Nicky chose shears and set to work on the bushes on the Lindsay road side of the church and Christine trimmed shrubs and tidied outside the Girl Guide hall. Andrew worked sorting out the flower borders. Soon the results of our labours were clear and all the sites were looking much neater. The front hedge was looking immaculate! It had been a satisfying morning’s work. Father Pip came to meet us and thanked us for our efforts and David commented that we had saved him 4 hours work. Afterwards it was inspiring to go into the church and see how they have adapted to operate under strict social distancing restrictions and have been able to safely resume services and also keep the church open during the day for private prayer. As the group had later commitments it was decided not to run on this occasion.

Well this week was all about mental health, and food for your soul - so this report comes with a little honesty, reflection and a lot of gratitude.

The task went up last week and responses from our regular runners came in:

Shelley - Agreed to a sunrise run and wants to get things in before the calmer lockdown state disappears - Then booked 3 days off work to spend time with her daughter Hilary highlighted the park yoga that is now happening on Sunday mornings and she is enjoying. Elizabeth presented us with David Attenborough - Its a wonderful world Ali planned a walk with a friend, kayaking with her daughter and has a new book to read for personal development. Dr Chatterjee had his book for 99p on Kindle one day and I downloaded it with Nicola and Hilary as well knowing he is a great role model for health and welbeing. There was pictures of poppy fields on the whats-app group and there is talk of a beach evening with friends one evening (all govt guidelines will be followed) There was excitement for the space launch Then there was skipping - The challenge to do 10 mins a day! To finish off the week there was Goodgym Games - Sian set the ball rolling with the Super King Duvet challenge for a giggle whilst I managed a late entry for also a Duvet and a Pea / Can attempt. Lets see how we get on!

But this week I cannot possibly leave out the kindness of fellow Goodgym members and how the kindness can really lift spirits and help you reassess how you can manage through this difficult time.

Just a couple of weeks ago I was sent via Whats App, a picture of all many Goodgym runners holding up signs. The photo was sent with a message 'To say we miss you lots and are so grateful for the support and encouragement you give us. We know you've had a tough time recently with loosing your Grandad so we wanted to share our support for you'. Each runner had made a sign with words such as POSITIVE, BUBBLY, FUN, INSPIRATION, CHEERFUL, STRONG, FRIEND AND DYNAMIC. It was a truly emotional picture to receive when you feel all your energy has drained away and you feel anything but those things. When there is no friends / family to hug, chat to over coffee or even have the laugh of a group run and task together. At that point I knew I needed to get that picture put up somewhere at home to remind me of what a group of people can make you feel. This week I had a message from Richard and Sian to ask to pop round to the house - (All guidance followed). They arrived with the picture framed for me (the universe was listening!), a Rose bush and lovely Magnolia tree ready to plant in the garden in memory of my Grandad. I confess to a few tears myself!

It has been 10 weeks or so since lockdown and we all have our own individual difficulties we face each day from finances to supporting family members at a distance. Supporting children with home learning and coping with childcare without all usual support. Our usual outlets of Gym or group meet ups not available. Even the process for dealing with those unwell or that have passed away is not the same so new ways to grieve and support need to be found. We have made all these adaptations so quickly but for many of us it has taken its toll. What gave us a lift before - seeing our friends faces, meeting up for exercise, our voluntary work, the comfort of our routines, our holidays or mini breaks, our salon appointments or parkruns. Sometimes it hits us that our mental health is just not in a good place and we need to try and get it back on track - whilst we are still in a restricted society.

We cannot change what is going on around us - We can only change how we approach it all and our daily attitude towards the world. We can also change how our friends and family are feeling on that day by little things - a card, a message, a photo, a smile or now we can - perhaps a walk together or a garden coffee. We can also limit the negativity around us - limit the news and social media posts that do not bring us positive messages. We don't need to be part of them.

But as always - We can start with gratitude - For the things we do have right now - The safety of our homes, the health of loved ones and ourselves, our legs that carry us across many miles, the food we eat and the beautiful county we live in.

So I will also finish with gratitude - Towards Goodgym for bringing people together, for giving us a different perspective, for opportunities for meeting new people, going to new place and having the chance to make a difference.

My gratitude towards every person listed in this task for taking the time to make your pictures, the garden gifts and more than anything - For thinking of me and bringing me such a lift.

We can all make a difference in so many ways every day - Lets keep doing it and keep the ethos of Goodgym alive!

Another week has raced by and before you know it we are all stood there once again in The Sloop in our Goodgym T-Shirts!

Spring is definitely on its way as we actually all arrived with some daylight still with us - in hopefulness we set off down the park to hope we could do some warm up and runs there but by 6.30pm it was back to darkness and street lights.

It was great to welcome Sue tonight - Sue has been part of the running community for many years as a volunteer, leader and runner and is currently getting back to a bit of running. Sue came tonight as it was advertised as a walk option so great we can have you! We will continue as Poole Goodgym to advertise if there is a walking option available (depending on task location) and hope we can appeal to more people to join this group who can head to the task as a walk option directly.

We headed over to the Park in the hope of circuits around the cricket pitch but there were rumours of a big, deep puddle and not enough light to see around it so we took a little run through the park, using lampposts as speed increases as we went.

Back onto the roads and only a short run to the local school that is bright and airy inside. Ocean Academy is a relatively new school and a new place for us all to go.

We were met by Nikki, a TA from the school who had contacted us a number of weeks ago having seen our library move around at St Mary's. The instructions were pretty simple, shelves of books to be put into sections as set out already by Nikki (Animals, Science, Arts and Crafts and so on!). These books are then to be placed in different shelves opposite. Meanwhile those shelves had a bunch of fiction books to move off and onto the old shelves but keeping the alphabetical order (Got that?!). It was into 2 groups of 5 and the move started. For the first 15 minutes there was many questions of 'which section for the book on the queen' and 'is this animal section or a science book' and so on. Fortunately Nikki knew what she wanted and the books were piled high in the just about correct sections! There was a few Laurel and Hardy moments where Goodgym T-Shirts were going around in circles with piles of A quick wipe of the shelves and it a time to fill them up again.

Sue and Tim we appropriately stuck on the 'S' and 'T' authors in the corner whilst Nicola and Jane worked on the 'W' clan! Nicola was last seen walking around asking what section the Queen reference book went into...who knows where both Nikki and Queen ended up! Andrew meanwhile was last seen with a skeleton feeling unwell - not as unwell as the skeleton we hope!

Suddenly the task came together and it was all finished and all books away! Time for a few pics and onto the Constitution Hill. Nikki thanked us all as a group for the work as it has saved her many hours sorting through the books and using her time for this so great to make a difference to a local school!
I am delighted to say it was a lovely hill to run up! I will remember that one in the future - some lovely little ups in it! What goes up must come down and so it was down North Road back to the Sloop all before 8pm so time for a stretch!

Well done to Sarah who still ran the long way around with us back to the Sloop before heading back out again towards home despite not running for a few weeks.

Robert had last night joined the new group Run, Talk, Run that is set up to support mental health, encouraging runners to talk and keep fit. We really support this at Goodgym so we wish the group well and hope many of the runners will also consider coming to Goodgym in the future.

Next week we look forward to a change of task with our first hosting of a social!

Happy Pancake day! A great chance to indulge in a few pancakes as well as think about possibilities for lent - religious or not lent is a great excuse to break a bad habit. They say it takes 30 days to break a habit but just 7 days to form a new one - so what will you give up this lent? We are surrounded by so much every day it is good to stop and think about if any of our habits are poor ones - snacking, caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, crisps, taking the lift instead of the stairs or driving instead of walking. So take a moment and think about what new habit you want in place, reduce or just appreciate it that bit more when we do indulge so it is not a daily occuence. That was the theme for tonights runners to ponder on!

It is a cold evening as we once again meet in the back part of the Sloop (Daveena's is still not available for us to use over the road). It has been a day of many weather fronts, heavy rain, cold, a bit of cold and warmth and then cold again. The forecast was sleet but we were there and ready to go - whilst also grateful it was an indoor task.

We managed a few circuits of the carpark before heading towards Ashley Cross. Tonights run route was just over 3km on the way there and with a similar paced set of runners tonight it was a straight forward run.

We arrived at St John's and the important task of making hot drinks was assigned first! We know its a treat coming to St John's as we can make ourselves a cuppa! Jane and Nicola were on drinks whilst Marie found our now assigned Goodgym Box of cleaning materials ready for our use. The unique task at St John's is that we clean windows - with a choir rehearsing in the background! So we try to make as little noise as possible and all potter around ensuring the areas are clean. The entrance windows are the biggie for the church and once again Sian proved she a bright spark with a cloth and litter picker in hand cleaning the top of the entrance! Andrew tonight was the star of the show with an added bonus of having probably about a foot in height to the rest of us. He was seen for 30 minutes dotted around various parts of the church, appearing on top of all sorts of furniture (safely of course!) to get to various windows! We had to virtually drag the cloth out of his hands at the end!

Ali and Elizabeth armed with litter picks were outside looking for any rubbish they could find whilst Christine and Jane took the side entrance windows.

Marie showed herself to be a 'just get on with it' person as she was seen wiping down tables and looking busy!

It was lovely to have the choir in the background and they finished with a great song with full strength that we all enjoyed and had a little sway too. They then finished up going for their cuppa and a cake so we left them all too it as we headed back out into the cold night air.

It was a shorter route home and thankfully we all remained dry and pretty warm - many home to pancakes!