We ventured to Osney to The Hollybush pub, with two teams prepared for pizza and quizzing. The usual mix of questions and topics popped up, along with medieval versions of pop songs, a picture round on the tallest celebrities, and guess the intro. We defended our reputation with a very respectable 3rd place for Red Thunder, and 1st place for Red Hot Quizzy Peppers. First prize was a £50 gift card, which was literally a giant playing card with 'gift card' written on it - we are yet to see if it is legal tender.

Any suggestions for other place to try out, or non-quiz socials, then let me know.

For anyone intrigued by the medieval music - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3IzXed3gGgWW206d9vbL40

This Wednesday we had a spooktacular plogging poster distribution challenge.

Here at GoodGym Oxford we like a bit of healthy competition, and nothing quite gets that spirit fired up like a scavenger hunt with a purpose. With Halloween just around the corner we had a ghost-themed hunt this week. We divided into 2 teams: Runners and Walkers. Each team was given a list of haunted locations, 5 GoodGym posters, a litter bag and 2 litterpickers. Points were awarded for every poster pinned up, every haunted location visited, and for spotting a variety of Halloweenesque decorations (ghosts, broomsticks, pumpkins, cats and witches hats). There was also a requirement to clear up litter as you buzzed around the City.

It was neck-and-neck between the teams on posters displayed and locations collected, but the walkers truly spectacular 50 pumpkins had them whipping the win out from under the runners feet.

Our brains got a good workout from the strategising, our legs got moving, litter was picked, we learnt about the history and mythology of Oxford, and GoodGym was publicised...a win on many levels!

Wednesday evening's task was a race against the sunset: We just about won!

Throughout autumn and winter Boundary Brook Nature Park do a lot of work to maintain their grassland areas. This mostly involves cutting back the brambles, which can easily take over and swamp more delicate plants, then digging out their roots. After all the recent rain this proved to be a very squelchy task, and the roots tenacious, but we managed to dig out several wheelbarrow loads of bramble roots before darkness stopped play. We were hoping to spot some bats in the reserve as darkness fell, but sadly none were visible - perhaps they were hiding from the rain?!

As in previous years, we were requested to help with Oxford's largest running event - Oxford Half. For some this meant forgoing the usual Saturday morning Parkrun (although Uni Parks ended up being unexpectedly cancelled anyway) to instead facilitate the running of thousands of entrants to the Oxford Half on Sunday. Equipped with hi-vis and caps (as Bethan says, "who doesn't love a freebie",) we were briefed on the process identical to yesteryear. 2 to a tablet, we made fast work of entrants scanning their QR codes, checking ID and delivering that fateful race number laden with the every important chip for their chip time - some of us appreciating the value of that chip from past events! With everyone buddied up, the process was slick and the queue never grew that large especially with Harvey from GoodGym Ealing directing and encouraging those in the queue to come on down as we were like cashiers in a Post Office. We were well-catered with snacks and lunch provided by the Motiv Sports Team to keep us fuelled for the 4 hour stint with some of us working so fast, our scanner ran out of battery - definitely not from practising Morse Code. The rain started to pour but under our tented shelter we persevered and before we knew it, 1pm struck and it was time to depart. Highlights included seeing friends we knew collect their numbers with glee and/or trepidation, numerous dogs (including one man carrying one in each hand), and chocolate/brioche/party rings for the sugar every GoodGymmer dreams to be surprised with on a Good Deed. A posthumous congratulations to everyone completing the Oxford Half and I imagine we'll be back next year for Oxford Half 2025!

Love it or loath it (the bridge, not the location!), no-one can deny that every session at the community allotment at Hogacre Common gives us a good stair workout! Hogacre is tucked in between railway line and flood plain. The access is across a pedestrian bridge with many steps, making deliveries to the garden challenging.

Items we have been asked to carry across the bridge in the past include sofas and horse manure, so tonight's task of shovelling woodchip into boxes to carry across was pretty easy by comparison. We used the first loads to spread woodchip around the boggy entrance to the site, then refilled the boxes and delivered them to the garden gate for use around the beds and pathways.

Meanwhile, Django the spaniel kept a watchful eye on the GoodGymers weeding and mulching the garden beds; everyone's favourite supervisor!

Welcome back Axelle!