This week GoodGym is running in partnership with the Great Get Together for the Jo Cox Foundation as we celebrate community and having more in common than divides us

We were so lucky tonight to have a visit from Ed who was in Newcastle for an area visit! Ed is a super-fantastic member of the GoodGym Central team where he is head of Group Run ops. Ed was the very first person I ever met from GoodGym and he attended our first Group Run back in April 2018, so it was brilliant to have him back. Ed actually gave me the job as GoodGym Newcastle Trainer so hopefully you didn't tell him off too much for that.

The group were treated first to a stack of stats about Paul 's epic Ultra on Saturday where he ran across the country in one day Carlisle to Newcastle (112KM!) with a little too much extra info. Check out his new GoodGym badges! oooo!

There were three big hellos tonight too as we welcomed Rosanna, Clare and Imogen to GoodGym for the very first time. Hope you had a brilliant first time with us, you fierce and fabulous trio!

We had TWO amazing milestones to celebrate as both Ross and Kate reached the big 5-0 good deeds. Hard to believe of all those good deeds, Ross chose his favourite as the Ikea furniture one that went on til after 9pm that time!! Check out the photos of Kate and Ross adorning the coveted cape both separately and together. Congratulations to you both.

The walking group departed then we had a great catch up about what happened at the Newcastle Parks community missions on Saturday and Sunday which were proper physical brilliant work outs for the magnificent seven that attended each day. Kudos to everyone, especially Emily, Paul, Andrew and Miranda who did the double! A quick rock-paper-scissors warm up and off we went, meeting Evan when we got there.

Nunsmoor Centre was organised brilliantly for our arrival and it was straight into the task tonight. Our task was to empty their toy cupboard, organise and clean the toys then pop them all back in with minimal time playing with anything. Some playing did take place as you can see by the photos, so we can't deny that. Nunsmoor Centre is accessed by families in the area for loads of brilliant clubs, activities and classes so it's always good to lend a hand. The cupboard was swiftly cleaned out (including Aimee and Charlotte showcasing some tiny play cleaning items - look at the teeny brushes in the photos!) and filled back up. Job done in just 30 minutes.

Smashed it.

It was a landslide for those who voted to do a cardio session by playing in the park for this evening's Fitness session, with just three voting for the alternative option of circuits in the hall. Everyone piled out and climbed up and over the awaiting swings and climbing frames and I stood back and admired well-behaved fun (except Abi briefly grabbing Nick "accidentally" around the neck.. young love, eh?) like a proud parent of a bunch of oversized children. As always, the social group headed straight off to the weekly social afterwards which tonight found its way to The Free Trade Inn. There's a social every week after the Group Run, so don't forget to ask about it if you fancy drinks next week!

We'd love it if you could help to continue our Great Get Together Celebrations on Saturday where Ross will be leading a Community Mission in Felling Park to help out at their garden party. You can sign up for that here.

There's also a new afternoon mission next Tuesday for you to get in your diary.

We will be back next Monday at Hotel Indigo ready to tackle our Monthly visit to Changing Lives so I will see you then!

Have a great week knowing you started it with good things.

Anji x

Keep up the good work!!

Actual quote, shouted at us by men on a motorbike tonight!

Let's start tonight with three massive cheers for Paul who came along to his first ever Group Run tonight despite a last minute change of task. Kudos Paul, we hope to have you along every week. You did a brilliant job!

Our Group Run tonight was subject to a last-minute change but we didn't mind too much, we were looking forward to finishing the leaflet drop for Scope charity shop in Byker that we started in May. This regular task for us allows us to spread the brilliant work that the volunteers at Scope do, and at the moment is our only task in the Byker area. We love charging across town and over the Byker bridge!

The usual celebrations started the evening, four marathon runners were back looking remarkably fresh! Well done Nick, Abi, Dan and Rachel on 26.2 miles of awesomeness. We also celebrated a GoodGym parkrun sandwich that included Faye, Jon, Andrew and Dan on Saturday, and a parkrunathon that I completed on Saturday with Paul. We did 8.5 parkruns in a day for marathon distance and it was epic. A few people asked me for the fundraising link for our challenge tonight, so here it is: We warmed up with our traffic game then set off to Byker.

I'd estimate we had around 450 leaflets to distribute tonight so we got cracking straight away. Emma and Kate were asked about GoodGym on the way so they managed to do some promotion for us at the same time as Scope, Katy got herself our first ever letterbox nip injury (didn't I say this would happen one day?!) and Dan saved someone's night as they had left their front door keys in the door. There really should be a GoodGym badge for extra good deeds whilst doing a good deed! We are never short of drama.

Ross and Katy were first back but it wasn't long before we were all back at our meeting point by the church. Andrew had some great photos to share (one of them NSFRR- not safe for Run Reports- involving a dead pigeon) and evidence they'd even spread the word of Scope to a local cat. Meowsome!

A vote took place for the fitness session and it was almost unanimous that we would do The Equaliser: two groups heading back to base with a 4 minute head start for Team Chill with me, charged down by Team Speedy with Evan. I'm blaming the unfavourable traffic lights and pedestrian crossings for the fact they caught us before the end of New Bridge Street. SIGH. Well done to you all, it was epic.

No community missions this weekend, but we have a great NEW TASK for our Group Run next Monday, so get involved if you can and lend a hand to help the West End Refugee service.

Have a great week with lots of walking, running and doing good things.

Anji x