So, I took over the monthly socials in September 2014, it was a great night and we celebrated Becky Greenwood reaching 100 good deeds as well as the other heroes of the month. I think about ten people came... fast forward nearly three years and yes the format has grown, but not only are we rocking exclusive venues but, a stupendous EIGHTY of you came out! I genuinely cannot thank you all enough, it brings me so much joy to see everyone coming together, and the fact you're still bothering to listen to me three years later... Anyway, before i get way way too gushy on to the report:

Heroes

• So last month we decided that we were all gonna work really hard and top spot fell to three awesome GoodGym-ers. Round of applause for Egg Cameron of GG York, David Guest of GG Bristol and Sam Needham of GG Sheffield with 16 good deeds in July. London...must do better ;)

• For the rest of the heroes have a look here till 31st August or have a look at the pic above!

• July saw 13 more people earn their black tshirt having done 50 good deeds and three more joined the exclusive 'GG gives you wings' club with 100 good deeds - congrats to John Shirley of Camden, Melanie Kramers of Tower Hamlets and Pete van Tongeren of Redbridge - give them a cheer!

• The first of the area heroes...for most new runners in July, with a whopping 30 goes to GG Norwich congratulations, only a month into existence and you're topping the leaderboards!

• It's the second month of our new feature and things are hotting up already! Another draw for July between some of GG's heavyweights… with 190 attendances it's GG Bristol and GG Wandsworth Great stuff - who is gonna be the first area to hit 200 in a month?

News

• Races! We have over 60 people taking part in our second trip to Race the Train in Tywyn, Wales. It's gonna be a great trip - technically not too late to enter as you can enter on the day - so keep an eye out on social media! #GGxTrain

• Upcoming we have the New Forest Races, September 10th, which you can very much still sign up for - all the details here! The last of the 'Big Six' on October 8th, the Oxford Half Marathon - details here, if you want early bird entry at £40 then make sure you sign up before August 22nd, it goes up to £45 after!

• Euro Trip! No, the gaudy C4 extravaganza is not back but GGxBucharest is here. The European trip is decided and the best Anglo-French pairing since we decided to build that there Channel Tunnel, Paul and Axel will be keeping you updated on details for that. Ensure you're getting those details by signing up here!

• Make sure you check out the race section of the website for details of all races and check out the Race Team if you want to get a singlet, a discount and get involved in the cross country!

• Media! GoodGym Birmingham are all over your telly boxes at the moment having made an appearance on BBC Midlands Today and ITV's Central News with their fantastic work. Ivo, the founder of GoodGym, also appeared on Radio 4's #FourThought with a wonderful piece on how GoodGym started - I'd recommend a listen no matter how long you've been with GoodGym.

• Finally, we are ever expanding so please spread the news that we are now operating in Barnsley on a Tuesday, Leicester also on a Tuesday and will be opening in Ipswich on Monday 4th September.

Boring Bit

• This month we talked about the GoodGym Shindig which is basically GoodGym's away day but with GG Central, trainers, run leaders and taskforces coming along. We were in the Peak District this year to talk all things GoodGym. Topics covered ranged from diversity to communications, how to grow the numbers doing coach runs to how to keep up variety on group runs! We want to hear what you have to say and at the end of the day if it doesn't work for you it likely won't work for newcomers which leads me to...please please keep on at your trainers with regard to Taskforce, it's your first step to being more involved with GoodGym. As ever, please do also contact me if you want to know more and finally check out more on the shindig, including some notes and actions here.

Guest Speaker

• A huge huge, thanks to Fay Sibley who braved the massive crowd and told us about her amazing story of combining the Land's End to John O'Groats bike ride with GoodGym-ing. Please do donate if you can here!

now for the big one... yes… the…

INTERNATIONAL PUN OF THE MONTH!!!

the winner with a resounding 42 of 103 votes from the night and online...

"Don't chair wish your girlfriend could sand like me" from GG Cardiff; just three months after their launch! Massive congratulations!

...and with that I prove that I can't keep these damn things short! Thanks for sticking with me, it just goes for me to say a massive massive thank you to you all again. EIGHTY of you! Amazing :D Thanks to all of you that came for the first time, i know it's not easy. Big shout out to Beth from GG Worthing, top effort to make it! And, finally, thanks to all of you that clearly did follow the hashtag and prayed for sun! What a night!

Next month we go on tour again and the wonderful people of GG Barnet are hosting - all the details are here but in short, 7th September, 6.30pm The Old White Lion, N2 0NW.

Dates for your diary going forward are 5th October (Angel), 9th November (GG Newham) and December will be out of my hands but we’ll have the "GG-mas Party" which I'll keep you posted on anyway!

That's all from me but get in touch with questions, suggestions and anything else!

Cheers,

Pritesh (pritesh@goodgym.org - 07887802793 - @pritski)

p.s. Please do follow me on twitter, if you can, for many GG related updates and also join the 'Unofficial' Facebook Group here (remember to state your area) for more info on races, training runs, socials and other news from the GG community.

p.p.s. Big thank you to Frances and John for additional photos

What a year it has been. Last night 50 runners celebrated 51 runs, which is a colossal 102 hours of doing good, in Wandsworth. We've been to schools, cancer charities, community gardens, food banks, independent theatres and refugee support groups. We've covered an enormous 295 kilometres together, have run races, made wonderful friends and have done too many squats to count. You've made GG Wandsworth the wand-erful place it is, gang!

We had a whole bunch of ace new runners join us to celebrate, people of GoodGym give a huge cheer to Steph, Nick, Georgia and Cathy! There was some lovely GG tourism - hello Patrick, Katie, Pritesh and Andy - and we even shared our anniversary with birthday boy Dan. So much good stuff!

To mark this special run we were heading back to our very first task at the Katherine Low Settlement, an amazing charity that works to tackle poverty and build stronger communities. They run a range of community projects to support children, older people and refugee communities in Wandsworth. And we love them! But first we had some warming up to do. After a few dynamic exercises we found out what makes everybody happy. From cheese, to puppies, Goodgym to birthdays, we really a cheerful bunch.

Like a small do gooding army, we set off for KLS and smashed out the 2k run in no time. While half of us headed inside to wash down walls, deep clean the kitchen, clear the cellar and scrub windows, the other half got busy outside with a fun fitness session. We played planking lions, pass the parcel, and a moderately successful musical workout to Squats and Shots. We swapped teams, and then finished off the night with a monster game of Clusters.

To run back we divided up into three groups depending on pace, and finished up back the BAC at pretty much the same time. Great running, team. After a few stretches, there was a very beautiful collage of happy memories, and we headed up to the common to see off the night right - with a quiz and a picnic. Well done to the winners who won with a brilliant visual representation of GG Wandsworth, and also guessed the Snakes on a Plane quiz question correctly.

Here's to an amazing year - bring on Year Two of running and doing good in Wandsworth! Let's kick it off with a cracking run next week.