We met Yin at Ardler Road allotments to help her out with some jobs on the Food4Families plot. They grow fruit and veg which is donated to local groups.

It was a lovely morning to be outside and getting stuck in! Jessica joined us for the first time, and she and Jenni took straight to pulling weeds out, to make sure that everything had space to grow.

Chris got to work on digging trenches to plant potatoes, and after weeding and planting potatoes, Jessica helped with getting everything watered too!

After an hour and a half, we had completed all the jobs needed for today. We'll be back again to help with more jobs throughout the growing season!

We had the pleasure of cheering on the Reading half marathon runners, powered by pom-poms, tambourines and cow bells supplied by Sport in Mind.

We started the morning by meeting at Reading train station and then making our way to Forbury gardens where the Sport in Mind gazebo was based.

It was a cloudy day but fueled with the energy of the other supporters and some very sugary drinks, we had a blast and cheered on every single runner! It was great to see some new Goodgymers joining us too. Ganesh, Joshna and Sandra brought great energy to the mix and it was a lovely event to witness.

We ended the day by helping to pack up the gazebo and items before heading back in the afternoon.

Thanks again to Jenni, Chris, Ganesh, Joshna and Sandra for attending and see you all at the next one!

We met Councillor Naz and some other volunteers, and set off around the local streets on a litter pick. Over an hour we collected a bag of rubbish each. There was too much for us to pick this time, so we will be back

4 goodgymers set out on another evening for our second litter pick of the year. We started from Siren bar and did a loop around Reading town centre, ending by Reading Minster.

It was a cold but refreshing night and we also had the pleasure of welcoming Ricky to the group for his first GoodGym task. Along the way, we collected a good 3 full rubbish bags of paper, wrappers, plastic bags and many many cans and bottles!

After a good haul, we ended the night with a group photo and a lovely farewell. Great job team Reading and looking forward to our next one!

Despite the grey skies and the thick mud underfoot, this week's Prospect Parkrun brought together a fantastic group of parkrunners, volunteers, and supporters. The course was certainly on the slippery side, but that didn’t deter us for our Reading GoodGym launch!

Thank you to Prospect Parkrun for giving us a special shout out at the start of the event, and to Oxford GoodGym for coming out in force with us in our red t-shirts!

Even the trail shoes weren't quite enough today, and it was an achievement to stay upright the whole way round! Our leaflet stack was significantly depleted with lots of people interested in finding out more about GoodGym.

A much needed team coffee at the park cafe was the perfect way to warm up and reflect on the morning for runners and marshals alike.

A big thank you to all the Parkrun volunteers as always for putting on a great event! And remember, if you're coming to Prospect Parkrun before the summer, don't wear white!

GoodGym Reading have now completed their first community mission 🥳

Five goodgymers met on a cold evening to do a litterpick around Reading town centre. Armed with bags and litter pickers kindly brought by Anwen, they set off to fill their bags. It wasn't long until Jacqui found our first pick of some cans lurking on the pavement!

With a wandering loop around the streets, we talked about what tasks we will be looking to do in future as we filled up the bags.

Sam and Sion joined us for the last leg after their run and helped us fill the bags!

With plenty of rubbish collected between us, (including several items of clothing?!) we tied up the bags and decided to warm up in Siren bar and continue our chat about what we'll do next!

You'll find us on 8th Feb at Prospect parkrun, sign up here! https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/prospect-parkrun-6bbe246e-46ff-4cf9-9632-437f0736ccb8