Tonight GG Brum had the Euros get together, but first we had some litter picking to do.

Yep, we headed to the canal towpath for the first time in months! Therefore it goes without saying there was quite a bit of litter!

Steve, James and Jonny were armed with the litter pickers and Laura and Morwenna were ready with the bags. Once they were full we headed for a run back along the canal with all of us noticing what a difference we had made in a short space of time :)

Once back at 1000 Trades we headed upstairs to watch the football. The first half was pretty turgid stuff to say the least! It did improve a little in the 2nd half, but hardly great!

Oh well, the draw seems to have opened up for England with Spain, Germany, France and Portugal being on the other side to England, but they'll definitely have to improve if they want to get to the final!

Is it coming home?? I'll let you decide..........

On a beautifully sunny Sunday morning, we were allowed access to a secret garden: Edgbaston Guinea Gardens Allotments.

As the last remaining example of groups of detached rented gardens which once encircled 18th century Birmingham, this magical green space is a really special part of Birmingham's history. Every garden is private – with many hidden behind mysterious doors – and each previously had a bothy where gardeners could have a cuppa and a rest.

New GoodGymer Steve walked from Moseley, while Laura ran from Stirchley and I strolled over from Cannon Hill Park, meaning everyone was nicely warmed up to join the gardening party. One of the allotments is used by the Garden Club at the nearby Edgbaston High School for Girls, where the pupils learn about horticulture and develop woodworking skills – and of course eat the fruits of their labour.

Sabreena and Steve from the allotments put us to work transferring matured compost into sacks ready to use on the Edgbaston High School plot, via sieves to remove sticks and other materials. It was a hard job that would have taken one person most of a day, but between the three of us we made a sizeable dent in a couple of hours. Meanwhile, the school pupils, parents and teachers got stuck in on the vegetable plots.

After refreshments and cakes (made by the talented pupils) in the bothy – reconstructed on the site of the original, after all these one-room huts were demolished in the last century – we managed to fill another sack of compost before finishing up. Thanks to everyone from Guinea Gardens for having us!

Tonight GoodGym Brum completed a trio of missions! Firstly we cleaned up at Dad's Lane/Pineapple House...are you ready for this list? We cleaned all the kitchen cabinets, the skirting boards, the walls, the chairs, the toys...we swept and scrubbed. It wasn't long before we got a call from BBC Radio WM who had been in touch earlier that day to arrange a chat, it felt so good telling them about what we do at GoodGym Brum!

After this we went on a run delivering leaflets for Moseley In Bloom. Thank you so much to Liam for arranging this, and prepping a wonderful run in the sun going from community notice board to notice board!

What a wonderful trio of good deeds! We headed back to the pub to enjoy the snacks Sarah @ Dad's Lane/Pineapple House had prepared for us, and even enjoyed a drink with the head honcho Steve down at the pub!

On an unexpectedly rainy eve we headed out on a 5km run and delivered an entire roads worth of leaflets for Change Kitchen.

An adorable cat followed me and Morwenna down the road 🥰

It was quite dark and rainy so we didn't have time for a photo! We'll be out again to deliver more leaflets next time.

Tonight myself, Laura, Morwenna and Ramiz tried out the new local running club. We met a little earlier for a litter pick and collected a bags worth of rubbish in around 15 minutes! Then we did a 5K with the CanEat running group. It was so cool to be join this amazing group and we all pushed ourselves up a very long hill!

Back to the bar afterwards for cups of tea and excellent chats.

Tonight we had a lovely plog around the streets of Bournville, collecting a bag of litter which I ran with like Santas sack. This was a good thing as I'd not come as festively dressed as Morwenna (in her hat), Laura (with her tinsel) & Eve (in a set of fairy lights).

After the 6km run we headed to the pub for pizza, pints and a good chin-wag before the Christmas break!

After another cold day we all gathered at Dad's Lane Community Association (or the newly named Pineapple House, owing to it's location on Pineapple Road) to get stuck in with the weekly cleaning tasks.

Laura got to work cleaning the floors, while Eve removed marks from the walls. Liam and Annie were stuck in with sweeping and Morwenna, Ramiz & his friend (WELCOME!!) got stuck in giving the kitchen a deep clean.

After this we headed out on a 5km Run to the famous Bournville tree! It was so lovely chatting to Ramiz, and we hope you come back. I'll be sure to send an email follow-up and include some other activities in Brum to get stuck in with.

Thank you all for a lovely run!

This week we had a slight change to the plan and instead migrated south to Stirchley for the evening for a litter pick. Laura and Morwenna really pulled eachother along with some grueling picking, the highlight being part of the soul of a shoe (hence the pun!).

After the pick, we went for a gentle 4km run around to get warm before heading back to base for a well earned refreshment.

Tonight we were joined by Mayu for the first time who is a student from India.

Laura led the way to the canal. We were going to a specific spot which was covered in rubbish. We filled two bags of rubbish and really made a difference to the area.

Once done we ran into the city centre, around the cathedral square, then dropped down to St Paul's square and back to 1k Trades, for a good 5k in total.