Welcome back to Tuesday night Group Runs! 2019 is already shaping up to be a big one... we got GoodGym's biggest numbers ever tonight - well done Bristol and your endless enthusiasm!

We were joined by 11 people new to GoodGym Bristol tonight - it was great having you Jayne, Jenny, Josie, Lee, Paul, Natasha, Jess, Amanda, Josephine, Louise and Saskia! Not only did we have lots of new GoodGymers and a new highest attendance to celebrate, it was also Tim's 50th Good Deed AND Alex's 100th Good Deed - well done!!

After we warmed up, we waved goodbye to the walking group then split into three running groups to get to the task. Thanks to Jack, Sally, Mel and Clo for your leading and back-marking to get the groups to the surprisingly-hidden task location... We arrived at St Thomas Church in Bristol and met Ed from the Churches Conservation Trust. Ed explained to us the importance of the church, which is no longer in use but dates back to the 17th Century, and of the work of the charity, which looks after non-used churches all across the country. Ed had organised a stack of jobs for us to do and we quickly split into different groups.

Group 1 - Waxing Lyrical

The first group were set the task of reviving the beautiful old tiles by scraping off all of the dripped candle-wax from the floor. This had to be done carefully to protect the tiles, so the group worked with their special wooden scrapers to get it all off and made a MASSIVE difference to the floor.

Group 2 - Working their Pew-ny Muscles

Group Two were set to work cleaning the two entrance hallways of the church. They swept, mopped, dusted and cleaned doors to make each entrance so much more inviting to passing visitors.

Group 3 - Aisle be Dusting

The third group conquered the aisles and pews of the church with their dustclothes and brushes. They then bagged all of the dirt and mopped down the entire church, what a job!

After half an hour, the group had given the entire church a thorough clean, and we regrouped and ran back just in time for some fiercely competitive relays.

It was then time for the first GoodGym Eats of the year, where 20 of us trooped to Three Brothers to eat burgers (Andy may or may not have eaten all of the burgers photographed) and for Alex to bemuse all of the other diners by looking very casual in a centurion outfit while going about her meal. As if the burgers weren't enough, we then had Alex's AMAZING lemon cake for pudding, setting high standards for the next Centurion!

Tonight, more than 40 runners turned up to find out what the mystery challenge would be in store for them... Welcome to Maddie, Katherine, Nik, David, Taj and George, who joined us for the first time.

Firstly, Sally took a small group of runners to the city centre of Bristol. There, they split into four small groups to distribute tea and coffee to homeless people around the city centre. Despite one flask mishap, the team managed to distribute four packets of biscuits alongside over twenty hot drinks on this cold winter's night. Brilliant work, team!

Meanwhile, the rest of us ran to Bedminster to start the Christmas Cheer Challenge. After each team's items were distributed, they had half an hour to get all of their good deed tasks complete. Each team had a particular area to flyer, a team photo to take, a packet of mince pies to donate to passers-by and as much litter-picking as possible along the way. Between them, they got through a whole load of flyers to help Above and Beyond advertise for this Thursday's Christmas Star Concert, gave out 24 mince pies (even if it was to pub-attendees, as one group did!), took some impressively creative team photos (evidenced above) and picked up 7 bags of litter. This included the strangest bit of the litter of the night by Richard, of a new Noah and the Whale single - only in Bristol.

Despite tough competition, Kim's team won the challenge based on the amount of litter picked (accusations were hinted at with her incredibly good local knowledge of litter hotspots) - although, in true GoodGym fashion, everyone was a winner tonight.

At least, that was the case until we returned to do the even more contested challenge of a relay contest with a carry-your-team round. Previous litter allies were eyed-up on their strength and lightness. Soon, smallest members of each group were being flung around with little care while concentration was on finishing that lap. Gary's team solidifed their win (some would say they turned a litter victory into a big victory) with their impressive piggyback technique. As everyone headed off into the night discussing the tactics of the Queen's Lift v. the Stretchered Person (ahem, Danica's team), we know it can only be a matter of time until the rematch...

Can you do the can-can?

Tonight we headed back to practice our can-sorting, weighing and lifting skills while helping East Bristol Food Bank to sort their 200 crates of supermarket donations ahead of the Christmas period. This is always a busy time, both for the donations coming in and the amount of food being processed through the food bank, so it was all hands on deck to get as much sorted as possible.

While Matt conquered his Winter Wonderland walking badge with the accompaniment of Debbie, the rest of split into two groups. Sally led a steadier group while the rest of us went on ahead. When we arrived at East Bristol Food Bank's new premises, Andy explained the sorting process to us and set the first group to work.

We can

Between the group, they manned the scales and weighed each crate to calculate how much had been donated, then split them into grouped items to make them easy to distribute.

Meanwhile, Sally's group arrived and they got the short straw of having to go straight into their fitness session from their run. On the tiny platform of dry ground outside the food bank, the group squeezed together to create a human-Tetris of plank holds, press ups, chair sits and more. After 10 minutes of work, hopefully their thighs, core and arms had enough burn to make them feel virtuous as they switched places with the other group in a food-sorting-and-fitness relay.

(but it would be better with some tin-sel...)

In no time, the group had sorted a large amount of the crates ready for distribution and had exercised GoodGym restraint not cracking into any of the biscuits. We waved Andy goodbye and set off home in the short dry-spell we had. On return, we got treated by Zdeni, who has flown through her good deeds and hit her 50th Good Deed at the weekend. She made the most amazing pernik which I promptly ate most of. Thanks Zdeni!

Welcome to Amanda, Kevin and Jessica who joined us for their first GoodGym Bristol run tonight - it was great to have you! And thanks to Alice for this week's pun!

A whole leaf-lot of good tonight, as we faced leaves and leaflets, harbour runs and hills and digging and deeding.

We started with a run along the harbourside to get to our task with Mel as a brilliant back-marker. Due to the traffic-free route, the group got a treat of extra stops for squats and press-ups, yay!

We quickly got to tonight's task, the Church of Holy Trinity in Hotwells. Here we met Suzanne from the Redcliffe and Hotwells Community Development group. Suzanne explained the tasks that they needed help with at the church and the group were split into the leaf-raking and bagging team, a digging team and a leafleting team. It is unusual for GoodGym to be outdone (especially on noise) but the local choir managed to sing through the 30+ runners digging and raking outside. We will need to work on '500 Deeds' for the rematch...

Unbe-leaf-able

Within 30 minutes, the Digging Team had successfully turned the soil ready for new winter bulbs to be planted and the Leaf Team had cleared all of the pathways and grass, making the area safe for pedestrians to walk on without slipping and filling a whopping 27 bags of leaves.

Big shout out to Hannah who won the all-important Best Leaf Competition (and, even more impressively, carried it all the way back)!

Take it or leaf-let

Meanwhile, the leafleting team were not to be upstaged. With some very logistical leafleting to be organised, the group covered all of the key areas and delivered 4 leaflets to each door, spreading the word of the Community Group and of Above and Beyond, who have a series of challenges and events people can take part in to help them raise money. Not to forget that some of the group also had to cover some big hills while they did this.

Soon, the group had finished their jobs and after a handful of hardy GoodGymers completed the steep optional hill sprint, we headed back along the water home. And this time the group only had to stop once for sprint and squat intervals. What a re-leaf. Well done everyone!

Tonight, we welcomed lots of new faces to GoodGym Bristol (welcome Verity, Fergus, Victoria, Teona, Clem and Lizzie!), celebrated Danica's 300th Good Deed and cleared up Felix Road Adventure Playground (in their exciting new floodlights!) with all hands on deck for litter-picking, cutting back nettles, brambles and branches and clearing up leaves to create more space for the children to play. Despite the wind and rain, we had a great time and got a lot done.

This was followed by our monthly GoodGym Eats, organised by the wonderful Maria, which resulted in the one-line-each story about (read: loosely based on) our night. Thank you for a fab birthday everyone and enjoy the resultingly mind-boggling read below (please note new runners, we are normally slightly less weird than this...).

And so I present to you: Our GoodGym Tuesday, written in single sentences inputted by 16 nonsencial GoodGymers. (Apologies to those who faced the wrath of my edit).

And so it begins...

Once upon a time, in a land far, far South West, 39 people gathered to do good...

There was Flimpy, Flumpy, Tipsy, Wipsy, Carl, Igor and his children Garth, Mickey, Claire and the man Woth the Wobbly Nose.

When the rain means no painting , we're sure to find a small wheelbarrow to move a lot of leaves, quite slowly.

Shenanigans tasked us with removing ALL the leaves so we needed help from the giant wheelbarrow!

"I, giant wheelbarrow was the perfect accessory for moving leaves.. a new task for GoodGym leaflessing.'

I have never seen soo many leaves, moved many times, by soo few people!

The special den-making twigs were kept for the children of Felix Road to get building.

We faced the sea of rain like valiant captains and cleaned all the litter away.

On the way back we were sure to take in a few dark alleys, these are a great way to make new friends #paulspointers

The run was cool. Stuff happened and we did good things. Then there were giant unicorns and unicorns with cats and badgers inside of them and magic was had by all.

And then in a twisted and unexpected turn of events...

WE BEGAN THE PURGE ...of Peshwari naan. Every last crumb was devoured. Then we came for the roti.

Then Shona hoped to not go the way of those before her on her twenty-fifth birthday, with the golden trowel as her protection.

However, there was no trowel golden enough to protect the unicorn from Danica's sudden unexpected treachery. Thus evening ended how it began, with a sharp implement to the face in the dark.

(Please note, no unsafe dark alleyways, implements to the face or any other unsafe activity was experienced this evening. The only thing harmed in the making of this run report was Danica's unicorn cake and potentially Paul's dignity.)