7 GoodGymers got involved with this month's walk and talk, it was also Martin's first foray into run leading and it was good to see Erin back after a while off. After a word perfect introductory briefing we set off towards Central Park, dodging commuters along the way. We arrived to find Sallyann and Leanne ready and waiting and Edith and the group from the Ideas Hub arrived shortly after. We took at leisurely stroll up to Admiral's park and the gym equipment area. Rich showed off his prowess on many of the machines. There was also a monkey bar competition, but Richard decided he liked his shoulders in one piece and didn't take part, seemed sensible to me! We made our way back to Central Park and said goodbye to Edith and the group and then those that were going that way headed back to HQ where we did some excellent stretching.

Congratulations to Leanne for her 50th good deed and see you next week for some more GoodGyming.

..but it turns out there was a task to do.

Back at Meadow View it's nice to see all the work Goodgym has helped with week on week but there's always some pesky weeds to deal with (especially with this weather) .

We emptied out some big raised planters for a change of layout (those planters coming soon to a marketplace near you!) and then added a nice polka dot feature to the lawn.

It threatened to rain the whole time but we got out dry and only slightly bitten. Some of the gang buzzed off for side quest: bee collection in town. Prizes have been promised. I'm sure there will be unbeelievable photos.

7 of us met as usual on a lovely summers eve ready to do some good. Unfortunately Hearing help Essex had to cancel as they weren't ready for us, so we decided to do a litter pick instead.

The shout went out on the socials and Leanne had suggested Arun park as in need of a bit of TLC. Fay and Sallyann kindly offered to walk with the litter pickers and bags while the rest of had a little run along the avenues.

We met by the playground and got stuck in and in no time we had filled 2 bags and managed to chat the entire time ( who would have thought). And just as we were about to leave a member of Springfield football club asked if we could pose for a photo outside their club house. Obvs, we jumped at the chance and hopefully will be partnering up with them in the future for some more good deeding.

Thanks all for coming and hope to see some of you at the beer festival on Friday or parkrun this weekend

Run Happy

Rich

I headed to the gym to do my second good deed of the day and saw an idiot driver in front, oh wait was just Andy. Mohammed arrived on his bike, still nursing a leg injury. Somehow it was the hottest part of the day but we set off. As you may expect, Andy did most of the talking on route. He's thinking of getting implants, which did surprise me when it wasn't his hair he was talking about.

Mohammed said how far it was to the task and he was right! But we made it in one piece to see Sallyann, Fay, and Leanne huddled up outside the men's toilets like it was a Duran Duran concert. It all made more sense when the task was painting the gents.

We got to work, Fay lambasting Justin Timberlake the whole time, only stopping to heckle my rendition of S club 7. She did dance later to Cotton Eyed Joe though, sorry for not getting a video. We chatted a fair bit about the heat, partly the last few days (Sallyann was fine as she has a pool at home) and it was roasting in the toilet.

After clean up and the all important photo opportunity we headed back, we left the walkers in our dust until they caught us up at the first traffic lights. Leanne took the absolute piss by living about 2 minutes from the task while I had to wheeze on. On the way back we saw someone who was doing yoga earlier who thanked us for painting the centre!

Another good task and see you all next week!

Fay was on a mission from before the task even started, rounding up more runners and enticing them with a trip to the pub courtesy of Andy. It worked, attracting three more for the evening.

The runners arrived hot and sticky, great conditions for handling leaflets, whilst Dawn arrived in a presumably air conditioned car. Fay wasted no time in telling us to get on with it, keeping her eye on the usual chatting culprits and dangling the carrot of a cool, free drink afterwards.

Thankfully, we had Richard a.k.a 'the leaflet monster',with us, propping up the slackers (Rich at the very least) and making light work of the huge bags of leaflets.

We headed to the Endeavour, and Fay saved Andy (this time!) by buying the round. Russell headed home to do very important admin that took about 45 minutes, whilst Joel looked longingly at the mini beer festival that was being set up.

Great work in the heat everyone! Next week we have our monthly walk and talk with the Ideas Hub. Sign up here.

See you soon,

Laurie