We applauded Richard P for his 250th parkrun volunteer, incredible work to tie with his 80th good deed.

Onward ho to the pub to do the leaflets and meet the four who walked there tonight. We voted and decided that less than 2k there would be preferred. Naturally Joel totally ignored us and we did 3.4km on the way there! Martin was in charge of conversation topics and chose the Chelmsford area activator role!

The pub team had laid out the leaflets ready (waiting for Andy and his City Sounds) with such intensity that Leanne had sliced her finger open.

Wine in hand, Sallyann revealed she had only woken up at 10:30 this morning, what a life of luxury! Asking Fay how Paisley was i was informed she currently 'smells like a tart's boudoir'. Lovely. As we were leaving we spied an advert for Caribbean roast dinners, now that is intriguing.

Next week is delivering all the leaflets we folded today and the vague plan is Chelmer Village way. CHESS, Age concern, City Sounds, Hearing Help Essex, Colchester Zoo Stampede, and Beaulieu Community Centre. See you there!

What a day out.

Our first volunteer at Junior Parkrun, a warm welcome by Paul leading to a world class whistle test, followed by the Parkrun!

We all had different roles, from barcode scanning, to marshalling, to funnel management, to tokens, and more, but everyone whooped and hollered the kids along. They were very quick!

The main shoutout has to go to Richard Perry, who did his sensational 250th Parkrun volunteer! And contrary to popular belief, the good deed this time wasn't bringing cake to the run. But the cake was very welcomed.

Afterwards we went to Wetherspoons and I am shocked to my core that the £1.50 haggis I had did not make me feel good for the rest of the day.

Great volunteering everyone, nice to do it at Junior Parkrun too to mix it up. We've been asked if we will help out at Writtle Parkrun too!

Only six of us braved the slightly concerning forecast last night, including newcomer Scott! He joined Jen, Joel and myself jogging the short distance to our task, where we met Jess and Sallyann, and our host Jennifer.

We were shown to the Scrap Store, a treasure trove of crafting items, but in need of organisation. Thankfully, there were lots of shelves that needed also needed organising.

Jen demonstrated her inner Stacey Solomon and rallied us all into getting things into place. We moved shelves, cleared spaces on the floor, and Jess put countless rolls of fabric onto shelves.

And as a reward, it was dry for those of us who ran back!

A great task, and loads of sorting done for Artists at the Meadows. Thanks all for coming, and a big well done to Scott for starting with us on a wet January evening!

See you soon

Laurie

Based on my recent health results, see the photo, I thought even though the task is only 100m away that I should do some exercise!

So I ran for 5km beforehand and then threw the only two bags of rubbish away for Mrs S.

On to the next one in the January challenge!

8 Goodgymers braved the cold and rain and made their way to the meadows shopping centre where we were kindly let in by Jennifer ( and the security guard) into the warmth of the Artists at the Meadows Gallery.

Our task tonight was to do a bit of tidying in their upstairs store room which was overflowing with weird and wonderful items. After a bit of dressing up we got stuck in and sorted lots of things into a many a different pile. Mainly fabrics, but its a start, and possibly overloading a rack in the process but you can't fault our enthusiasm.

With alot sorted ( but also alot still to do) we said our goodbyes to Jennifer with a promise to return if needed. We ran back into the night and then i had Chips for tea... mmmmmm chips

See you all again soon

Run Happy

Rich

While I cannot speak for Farid, what an effort.

Two bacon and egg sandwiches. One burger. Two flapjack. Countless quality street.

Oh, and we collected 93 trees. Andy with his usual atrocious white van driving.

The Christmas tree collection has helped raise over £73,000 for the fantastic work that Farleigh Hospice do.

Thank you to all volunteers, especially those who provided us with food!