The final installment of our leafleting task for Shieldfield Art Works took place on the coldest Monday night for many a month.

GoodGym Newcastle welcomed Douglas for the first time. More senior leaflet deliverers Scott and Richard were encouraged to move a bit faster than usual due to Douglas' energetic enthusiasm. Please come back and see us again soon Douglas, hopefully in a shiny, new GoodGym red t-shirt.

The pile of leaflets, which a couple of weeks ago was bigger than anything seen at GoodGym Newcastle before, finally disappeared completely. Extra kudos to Scott for wandering around in the cold past our usual finish time to get the final leaflets delivered. I think we may have set a new record tonight for the most leaflets delivered per person per hour!

There are three community missions coming up before next Monday, as we clear leaves in Gateshead, assist Newcastle Parks and volunteer at junior parkrun. Please check out the session listings and join us at one or more of those if you can.

My tailwalking gig was scuppered by a persistent migraine but it meant i got to do a bit of course marshalling today and it was great to see our runners crossing the finish line!

A lot of wildlife to see as usual, a rabbit that was hare-ing about (sorry) -and a heron who was in a stand off with some territorial gulls! never a ... gull... moment at Mowbray!

Today we joined in with Greening Wingrove's Doing Day at the Bike Garden. we joined a few other volunteers in the garden and me and Aimee were assigned to cutting back the hedges with long and short handle shears - as well as a saw!. Preserving habitats but clearing off some space in the winter months. It was great to hear from Hannah in the garden about what they are going to do with the branches - a dead hedge! more habitat for the garden!

we'll be back again in 3 weeks time - hope to see you there!

Just me on a dark and rainy evening but I managed to deliver hundreds of leaflets in 40 minutes. It was a race against time to get them out before the song of solidarity and strength opening night tomorrow! I really was not feeling it when I started with the miserable dark night and the terrible weather but I turned up the music and pushed to see how fast I could do it and before I knew it the pile of flyers was quickly going down and I got into it.

On a damp Monday evening, four GoodGymers headed out from Stepney Bank Stables to deliver leaflets for Shieldfield Art Works. The piles of leaflets had significantly shrunk since last week, but there were still quite a few left. After covering all of Shieldfield last week, the terraced streets of Sandyford and Heaton made an appealing target to get lots of leaflets delivered quickly. It was certainly a successful evening, with the added bonus that the rain largely stayed away.

Welcome to Chris on your first good deed and we hope to see you back again soon. Seasoned leaflet deliverers Aimee, Scott and Richard were delighted to see a new face.

Normally that would be the end of the report, but near the Tyne Bridge I stumbled upon a young lady laying face down on the pavement and pouring with blood from several facial wounds. She very likely had a broken nose as well, being tended to by her friend and a passer by on a bike when I got there. The GoodGym first aid kit got a rare use; fortunately I had bandages to stem the bleeding, antiseptic wipes to clean the wounds and a foil blanket to keep the young lady warm. Her companion was insistent that she didn't need an ambulance as she'd be furious, but she was very incoherent due to her head injuries. So after making sure the young lady was breathing and no longer bleeding, I called 999 and explained the situation. Hopefully there was a positive outcome for her.

A lovely day was spent today on the fields of Paddy Freeman's park. Wild Intrigue have partnered with Newcastle Parks to create some wildflower meadows.

There is already one blooming by City Stadium, with a lot more prepped earlier in October.

The benefits of these wild meadows is really for the local wildlife. They help out the butterflies, the bees, the moths, the bats, and even the deer. And today we dug deep to help nature; now that’s what you call groundbreaking work.

The turf had already been worked over with some heavy duty machine, but it all needed chopping into segments, and rolled, so that the exposed dirt is ready to be seeded. The rolled bits of turf are used are to make mounds that all the smaller critters love so much. There were already so many worms enjoying the pastures but soon many others will be join them, as they discover the different temperatures that these green havens provide.

Biodiversity is about to blossom, as early as next summer, so one could say those wildflowers will soon be petal to the meadow. Keep your eyes peeled for all the groundwork the next time you run the Jesmond Dene Parkrun.