Alas a big beginners session that was neither big nor featured any beginners! This one truly hung in the balance again today as we continue the cold snap and battle through January but four of us layered up and kept the good vibes coming.

It feels like a while since we were last at the fabulous Stepney Bank Stables and amazingly after so many times helping out here, today we were given a task we have never done before. I am glad we were all sufficiently wrapped up as today's job was outside in the container- basically like being in a big fridge in the car park.

After saying hello to the horses including super cute Sid and Sam, we got cracking with the task: weighing out and bagging feed using the two large (and fragrant) hay bales. It took us a little while to get into stride, checking the amount needed for each horse, bagging up, weighing, adjusting, weighing again. It was a really physical one today, easily the equivalent of about 100 sit ups and squats.

With about five minutes to spare, I remembered we also needed to log a litter pick to continue the relay, so I dashed off and cleared the entrance to the Stables car park too. Phew!

Spent a brisk 15 minutes making a start on clearing the grass area near where I live. There were so many cans I could have filled three bags but I just managed one today. Glad to have started my contribution to the January relay.

It has been a will they / won’t they sort of day as the weather has bounced between a little bit sunny (for approx 5 mins) to heavy hail, gale force winds and the ever present rain. I thought about cancelling the session about 20 times but knowing the hardy duo of Aimee and Lucy would be coming along I kept calm and carried on.

Tonight was our first group session of 2025 and finally my 300th good deed. Yippee! Fond of the fuss, I was delighted when Lucy arrived with a special banner for me to celebrate the occasion that seems to have been a very long time coming.. almost seven years in fact! Thanks Lucy.

To keep things simple and to keep the thread going of our January litter pick relay, we were heading out into freezing cold Newcastle to do battle with some rubbish around Leazes Park. It was lovely to catch up after our Christmas break and talk about what everyone has been up to, as well as plans for the year ahead. A very simple task made slightly challenging by the wind but before long we’d collected two bags of rubbish and we could definitely have carried on. Sadly the perimeter of Leazes Park is a bit of a litter trap so we will definitely be back.

A brisk walk back to base was the best I could offer for a fitness session tonight but as ever we headed home with a warm glow at staring our week so positively.

We’ve got a bonus group session this Saturday at Stepney Bank Stables. This is the perfect session for beginners so please share with anyone you think would be up for giving us a go in 2025. All the info is here.

Phew I think I sealed my entry to the Nice list just in time. On the last junior parkrun before Christmas, I helped out at North Marine junior parkrun as a course marshal. It was a bitterly cold day but a lovely warm welcome and even better, I received a packet of sweets as a thank you from a visiting Santa.

One last time for 2024, tonight we gathered at Stepney Bank Stables ready for our group run. We were really excited to have newbie Alice along for her first ever GoodGym session, and very impressed that she chose the last one of the year - she assured us it was the promise of the after-task social!

With Jack and Louise meeting us at the task, the rest of us made our way up the hill and along to Recyke where lots of tidying up jobs were waiting for us. We have been to Recyke countless times in the past but not for a few months, and returning to this brilliant huge space always feels like coming home! We had three main jobs to do: sweep out the workshop, tidy the wall of wheels and sort out the donations.

The wheel wall was one of the most challenging as it’s a tight squeeze and takes a lot of patience and manoeuvring but within no time it was expertly organised by Paula, Louise and Scott. I just wish I’d taken a “before” shot!

While Richard, Lucy and Alice swept, Max, Jack and Aimee got stuck into organising the turbo trainers and handlebars and before long the whole workshop looked clear, clean and sparkling. Another one of those jobs that takes us no time but makes a huge difference.

A much swifter walk back closed off the session- was it the fact it’s downhill or because the pub was waiting at the end?

If you want to squeeze one more good deed in, Louise is hosting another foodbank session tomorrow. Join in to ensure your place on the Nice List.

What a lovely, wholesome start to the week at GoodGym Newcastle! Meeting up at Strawberry Lane for the last time in 2024, a group of five of us headed off to support a project at Newcastle University, where we hadn’t done a task in a good few years!

Aimee was leading the welcome and the walk this evening for her fitness leader training and it was lovely to sit back and let her take the reins. We celebrated Jack’s tenth good deed and marvelled at his accident prone past few days. It felt busy in town for our walk to the task- a combination of Northern Lights traffic and Christmas shoppers making it a bustle through the crowds.

We were met by lovely Fran who had prepared two tasks for us in a warm haven in the students union - complete with a sweetie tray as a thank you! The tasks tonight both supported poorly children in hospital over Christmas- writing cards for the Post Pals initiative (Jack’s choice) and making Wiggly Bags for children in the RVI, these cute little bags holding medication lines for the children to keep the lines safe and look more child-friendly- this option taken by Aimee, Lucy, Scott and me.

I couldn’t believe how fast the time went tonight as we were so deep into the task- concentration definitely needed for these activities! Jack created three beautiful cards while we made four Wiggly Bags in the time we had. Very satisfying stuff.

A fast-paced fitness session (and if you believe that you believe anything) wrapped up the evening with a great little stretch routine led again expertly by Aimee. Truly a fab start to the week.

We have a bonus daytime community mission at the foodbank tomorrow, and some Urban Green goodness this Saturday before being back for our final group run of the year next week.