"We have made a collective decision that we just keep going!"

What a night to welcome three newbies to GoodGym Newcastle. Welcome to Jack, Pippa and David. While Jack was completely new to GoodGym, Pippa and David were previous members of the GG Ipswich family. Pippa and David are currently sailing a lap of the UK, they’ve made Newcastle their home for the winter so we are delighted to have them as part of the gang. Jack only found out about Newcastle yesterday so we were mega impressed at how quickly he jumped into action.

With an almost 50/50 split of runners and walkers tonight, we made our way to the amazing Changing Lives at Cumberland House for the second time in a few months where a few jobs were waiting that we hadn’t completed last time. Changing Lives is a brilliant charity that supports vulnerable people in our city, to help them to get back on their feet when they most need it.

On the face of it, the tasks tonight sounded simple: chicken wire the front fencing of the house, and build two pieces of flat pack furniture out the back. I don’t think I’ve seen Aimee look as happy in years as when she heard about the furniture, so together with Pippa, Scott and Jack - who turned out to be a flat pack expert- she headed out the back to get building. Louise, Damu and David took the chicken wire and I floated between the groups trying not to get in the way. It was amazing how quick the chicken wire fencing went up and how deep the conversations got - it’s definitely a GoodGym thing.

Out back the large storage box was assembled first while a chest of drawers proved a little more fiddly. It became apparent we were going to overrun but it was clear how focused the group was on the job, and it was definitely not going to be left unfinished. Under the floodlights and head torches, and with lots of patience, the drawers were done while Aimee, Damu and Louise also dismantled and moved an old metal container. This was proper teamwork in action and we finished with stacks of satisfaction. It was worth side stepping the fitness session and finishing slightly later for this feeling!

We are so looking forward to the task last week with Ouseburn Trust as we are heading to The Cumberland Arms afterwards too. Meet at Stepney Bank Stables, or join us at the pub from 7:30.

Back at our One Strawberry Lane base for the second time and it still felt like a bit of a novelty! If you haven’t seen it yet, we are back in a few weeks time- remember our group sessions are now two on and two off at OSL, the others back at Stepney Bank Stables.

I don’t consider myself a feeder but I arrived loaded up (down?) with some slabs of carrot cake I’d made an enormous batch of at the weekend, and they were truly a carrot to dangle for tonight’s session. It’s been years since we have helped at any of the brilliant Changing Lives sites and it felt really special to be back tonight to begin a series of gardening jobs at Cumberland House at the bottom of Westgate Road. Cumberland House is home to vulnerable women in our city, where Changing Lives does an incredible job of getting them back on their feet safely. I was shocked to see we hadn't visited since the end of 2018!

We’d been left a lovely note tonight with some jobs to complete but were without a couple of tools and directions we needed so instead we got on with clearing, weeding and cutting back the back garden that was certainly in need of some GLC (GoodGym Loving Care, obv) and with eight of us on the job tonight we truly gave it the transformation treatment. Weeds were pulled, rubbish was tidied and the grass was cut. One of the big novelties of the night was the chance to use a lawn mower - this is honestly such a highlight - and Lucy did a splendid job as you can see from the photos. I can’t wait to hear what the task owner thinks when she arrives back at work tomorrow.

No task on Westgate Road is complete without a visit to Summerhill Park for a fitness session and after a body part number game to warm up (kudos to Catriona for a handstand!) a fun game of Water, Wind, Fire hit the spot and unleashed loads of laughter and connection to end the night.

We are back next Monday doing good stuff with Ouseburn Trust. Remember to meet back at Stepney Bank Stables for that one! Hope to see you then.

PS Thanks to Louise for the PunSpiration, I mashed up our ideas in the end!

It doesn't matter what your Monday's been like, GoodGym always has a way of making it brighter

Well, we made it! Our last Group Run of 2019 is IN THE BAG. What an incredible turnout for the final one!

We were paying our last visit of the year to our brilliant partner Changing Lives, the charity that supports vulnerable people to get back on their feet. They have given us so many amazing tasks this year and from the start at GoodGym Newcastle, including this year the chance to get involved in monthly visits to transform the massive back garden at Elliott House. Tonight was special as it was a different sort of task, but also due to renovations due to start at Elliott House in the New Year, it was set to be our last visit for a while.

Don't worry folks, I will find us another task up a massive hill for 2020

We started the night with a big golden celebration as it was Katy Queen of Squats 100th GoodGym Good Deed! Imagine being so brilliant, and so lovely, 100 times?! I - ahem - treated Katy to taking the intro and warm up for her 100th as I led the walking group off on a head start. Katy had colour coordinated her jacket and hair accessories with the golden wings of goodness but sadly she'd left her halo at home. Katy has done some amazing things during her time at GoodGym, going from new runner to Run Leader and Half Marathon runner, and I think you'll all agree she has the best games!

Happy 100th, Katy!

Excellent task owner Alice met us at Elliott House and led us straight up to a room where a stash of hidden gifts and nags awaited us. It was like a real Santa's grotto without plinky-plonky music. Our task was to get a production line going and in 20 minutes, to fill 50 Christmas Gift bags (again colour coordinated with Katy's wings) with presents for the Elliott House residents to open on Christmas Day. Each bag had to contain:

• A selection box

• A warm hat

• A mug

• Bar of soap

• Toothbrush

• Lynx bath set (it isn't Christmas without Lynx)

• Sweets

• Socks

Within minutes, a production line was going with bags being stuffed, passed and checked and the task was done by a record 7:04pm! It's nice to end the year with a PB! We hope the residents love their secret Santa bags as much as we loved putting them together. Quick photo session and back to Elliott House we went, where Rachel and Ross (no Friends comments please) were ready to meet us for after-run drinks.

We were so pleased to have the chance for a massive get-together at our base Hotel Indigo who are always so welcoming and accommodating to us every week. Massive thank you to all the staff there especially Adam who make us feel so welcome every week. With drinks in hand I announced the nominations for GoodGym's GoodGymer of 2019 which had been sent to me by you the runners over the course of last week.

The nominations were:

Andrew for the way he embraces everything GoodGym and the dedication he has to every good deed. Aimee for the progress she has made with her running, and the way she has embraced every area of GoodGym. Charlotte for the work she does on Instagram, and for being so passionate about GoodGym. Evan for his inspiring ultra-distance running, and arranging everything social for GGNCL. Katy for her brilliant games and for being a fantastic Run Leader whenever I'm not around.

It was really close in voting until the last few hours yesterday, then a sudden surge in voting gave Awesome Andrew a landslide victory, and he was awarded the coveted golden GoodGym dustpan and brush. You can tell by the photo how delighted he was.

I'm going to do the same face for this photo, that I've done for every photo this year

Andrew is leading a Community Mission this Saturday at St Lawrence Park which looks like the perfect chance to keep warm do good things and smash an extra good deed to stay on Santa's good list. The last Community Mission of the year takes place with Aimee on Sunday at City Stadium too, if you fancy doing a Double to end the year!

Thanks everyone for an incredible year of GoodGym Newcastle, in particular the Task Force for supporting and developing everything we get done. Every single one of you who come along whether it's once a month, every Monday, weekly visits to your coach or to every Community Mission help to make GoodGym what it is.

Our city is healthier, better and we are happier because of you

I'll leave you with Katy's brilliant poem that featured in my massive Christmas/Thank You card (thanks to everyone for their lovely messages!) and no apology that this Run Report has been epic- you get two weeks off from my rambling as a thank you.

Here it is:

GoodGym Newcastle is now 20 months old, And as 2019 comes to a close, It is time to reflect on the Good Deeds we've done, So we'll start from the top I suppose...

It all started with a painted Hoover, As we sorted through tools and toys, Paimted desks, clicking heels, cupboard and leaves, At JPR cheering the girls and boys.

Beeswax crafts, sewing and building shelves, Are all things we love to do! Litter-picks, weeding and marshallind in fog, Of those we've done quite a few!

There was painting and goat-walking, And then chopping down of trees. We made paper chains, sorted books, And were really good posties!

Scrubbed the decks, then painted them black, Can you believe I'm not even in May? Cleared a tunnel and found some rate, And remember digging in that rain?!

WERS got our help and we played in the park, Laughed and joked, everything shone. Yet more painting, we showed our pride, Delivered leaflets until there were none!

2000 good deeds was 'relay' great! Eagles and Recyke got our aid. First Centurion got his wings, then 3 more. Elliott Jouse- what a difference we've made!

But truth be told, it couldn't be done, Without someone taking a lead. Yes, you've got helpers to give you a hand, But you're who we really need.

Thank you Anji, our Queen of Drills, For your planning, playfulness and puns. 2019 has been a truly amazing year, All because of our Monday Group Runs!

• Katy

Happy Christmas one and all, See you in 2020!

Anji x

Our monthly visits to Elliott House come round so fast, and we were back there tonight!

Elliott House is a home to vulnerable men in our city, and it's a project we help out at regularly in support of our charity partner Changing Lives who do great work in Newcastle and the wider community in the North East. We have been helping to give their massive back garden a big makeover. The weeks are flying by and we started the countdown to our final run of the year tonight with a decent turn out in horrible conditions. I was so impressed to have not one but two new runners along on such a rainy miserable night. Well done Rebecca and Verity, we salute you.

You can do this, you can do anything!

We had a very quick Letters Game warm up to give Charlotte and Katy who were walking tonight a decent head start as they headed off up the famous hill of Westgate Road. Charlotte was wearing her brilliant 100 tshirt for the first time tonight, but you will have to take my word for that because it was far too cold and wet for her to take her coat off when we got there!

Brilliant task owner Alice met us with good news and bad. The bad news was we were still going to be outside for the task despite the rain, but the good news was that there were white chocolate muffins for everyone who wanted them at the end.. and they were MASSIVE. We were keen to get cracking and keep moving tonight, so it was straight on with weeding and clearing with conversations ranging from matching underwear to the best leggings for doing squats. It was brilliant to see everyone getting stuck in and as always we made a huge difference in just 25 minutes of our handy work.

What we really need for tasks like this is a GoodGym Goat. It could come to tasks on a Monday, munch through the leaves and weeds we clear, then we could take turns to look after it during the week - Debbie

Muffins collected and definitely not dropped by Katy, and we were off back into the city and on the way to our fitness session. It was so impressive to see everyone joining in on a paired activity of hills and recovery jogging, complete with high fives, heaps of encouragement and cheers from random passers-by. The effort was tremendous. We finished off with some personalised stretches for Evan's dodgy Achilles, Louise's back and Abi's .. um .. glute area. A Monday night very well spent!

We have had to make a very last minute change to the mission which was due to take place on Friday, and now has to happen TOMORROW! Please, please get involved tomorrow afternoon if you can as we deliver leaflets for Gosforth Civic Theatre from 1pm. There are a bunch of other Community Missions coming up in the next week from gardening to present wrapping so check them out and pop along if you can. All the info is here

See you next week when we are back at Newcastle Eagles for more gardening and good things.

Anji x

Time flies and it really doesn't feel that long ago that we were last at Elliott House!

We started the evening with some celebrations of a marathon kind as we cheered on Nick and Abi's awesome PBs at the Yorkshire Marathon yesterday. Top effort to come and get involved on tired legs too! There were also three super community missions to hear about, which you can catch up on here.

Congrats to Andrew for grabbing the treble and completing all three!

Debbie filled us in on the new parkrun at Jesmond Dene and we said a big hello and welcome to new runner Lauren who joined us for the first time tonight.

The Traffic Game got everyone warmed up on what felt like a chilly evening, giving Charlotte and Abi the chance to get a decent head start to the task. We haven't had a conversation topic for a while so the run out had the music related question "Which gig would you go to see, of any musician dead or alive" and we got answers ranging from Joy Division to Elvis. I still can't believe nobody said Steps!!

Our monthly visit to our friends at Changing Lives allows us to the support of their regular volunteers who have been working on transforming the large garden at the back of Elliott House which is a home for vulnerable men in our city. The aim is that in the coming months, the residents will have a safe place to enjoy and work in themselves. Alice our brilliant task owner met us and kept us organised as always as we headed straight out, collected tools from the shed and got digging. Since our last visit, the large Polytunnels have been removed and taken to Zimbabwe, and the garden now looks absolutely massive- it's amazing to think of the progress we have made in the last couple of months. There was a lot of excellent digging, a great deal of mud and it was also brilliant to see Charlotte replacing the crutches we've seen her with for the last few months, with a shovel in her hand instead! Go and give that woman a cheer!

As I had decided one massive hill wasn't quite enough for one night, we did some hill reps and a sprint off on the way back as part of tonight's fitness session which also featured Faye as the world's flashiest bike marshal at the top of the hill. Top work to Darren for smashing the final hill while Paul suffered something of a false start.

Team work!

If you'd like to get involved in a Community Mission with guaranteed tea and biscuits, check out the Saturday visit to Nunsmoor where we are popping along for our regular monthly visit. It's led by Ross, and you can sign up here for that one!

Have a great week knowing you started it doing good things. Happy running and walking, Anji x

Back to normality and back up a hill!

It was so great to be back at GoodGym Newcastle tonight after a brilliant break in Menorca. I have almost acclimatised anyway but being back with the group felt like a huge cosy hug, as we were back off to one of our favourite tasks, the monthly visit to Changing Lives where we have been helping with a huge garden renovation. Elliott House is a home to vulnerable men in our city, and the work Changing Lives do with them is quite incredible.

Now parks and gardens are usually our thing as we have done three big gardening tasks as Community Missions over the weekend, big well done to everyone who got involved in them! You will find the reports for them (and all our other tasks, too) here so check them out- there are some great photos, as always.

It was a special night for Miranda as it was her 50th good deed! Miranda has acheived so much in her short time with GoodGym Newcastle as she's become a Task Force member and run her first ever parkrun and 10K since she joined us in January. Now go and give her a massive cheer! She fully embraced the cloak and swished up and down the hill to the task like an actual superhero in amazing leggings.

We are not worthy!

We had a few last-minute changes tonight so when we arrived we were actually indoors and escaping the rain that was on the way- hurrah! Our jobs were all in the kitchen and included:

• Cleaning the ovens

• Deep clean of the cupboards

• Cleaning the large window

• Big sink scrub-up

• Mopping the floor

I also learned that they have a massive tin opening device as modelled by Andrew in the photos- you learn something new every day, eh? We had the kitchens scrubbed within just 25 minutes and just like that it was time to head off to the fitness session. Fitness sessions at the Triangle always involve an element of very fast stuff and tonight we smashed out some super-quick 20 and 40 second intervals- check out Katy's brilliant photo of the stream of runners under the Newcastle Brown Ale sign...

ICONIC

We have a brilliant new Group Run next week at Ouseburn Trust where we have lent a hand to a couple of Community Missions. You will need to bring a headtorch if you have one and as we are into darker nights now, please wear something reflective or bright. It will be great having you along as always. Sign up to that one here.

Keep up to date with happenings in our private Facebook group which you can request to join here

Have a great week running, walking and doing good things.

Anji x