After a spot of confusion and a very rare Goodgym no show at the weekend, three plucky young Goodgymers (Adam, JP and Rebecca) made their way to the Ham Youth Club in Ham to help them turn one of their training rooms into a gaming centre by painting it ……yes you guessed it…. Sliver! The youth centre have gone for a space theme for the room and the paint was supposed to have a metallic finish to it which was slightly absent so we added some of our own Goodgym sparkle.

The Ham Youth Club provides a much needed safe space and outlet for young people in the area with a wide range of programmes focusing on personal, social and educational opportunities. Whilst we were busily painting we could hear a parkour class taking place with lots of energy and laughter from the kids and Ben (manager of the youth club) told us how the instructor attended the Ham Youth Club as a young person and went on to train as a parkour instructor and now back at the club teaching. What a lovely story and great to see how the club creates opportunities for young people and the community. Sadly we decided we were too old and inflexible to join in.

We managed to mostly paint the walls and stay within the lines and Ben was very grateful for our efforts we tidied up our brushes and went on our merry way – kudos to Adam for actually running there and back

Well that was a blustery one! A day at work spent worriedly checking the weather reports – and finding a whole lot of rain clouds and stories of a windy fella from Ireland called Brendan – did not deter a brave set of Richmondites (and some honoured guests) from gathering to do good on Monday evening.

We welcomed Amy, the trainer for soon-to-launch GoodGym Maidenhead & Windsor, who took us through a very unusual warm-up featuring herding penguins, milking giraffes and even bum fives!

thanks to Amy @GoodGymWM trainer for our fun warm up last night! #richmond #running #warmup #volunteering #goodgym #training #fun pic.twitter.com/rdL4lifrGc

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) January 14, 2020

Then it was off into the night and a soggy 3.6km along the river and up past Ham House & Gardens to the Ham Youth Centre.

The centre does brilliant work in the local community, providing young people with a safe space where they can meet their friends, talk to staff, or take part in activities, as well as offering support on issues young people sometimes face such as stress, substance misuse, relationships & sexual health and school & careers.

When we arrived we were met by Steve and shown to the tool cupboard, where we formed a human chain to hand out a wide variety of cleaning equipment. Soon the whole centre was a hive of activity as we set to work giving everything in sight a good spruce up.

One group peeled off to the centre’s well-equipped kitchen and gave the surfaces and cooker top a good scrub, the floor a thorough sweep and the cupboards of pots and pans a top-to-bottom clean. In the sports hall others got busy cleaning and wiping down surfaces, while in the foyer area others still cleaned glass surfaces, pulled out and hoovered behind a sofa, and even gave the Foosball table a deep clean.

At the end of a satisfying spring clean (oh if only it was spring!) it was over to Amy once more for some resistance work. With fetching pink resistance bands around our ankles we waddled round in circles (penguins again?) and worked our quads – good to get a bit of a burn on before heading back out into the cold wet night.

The skills of the GoodGym Richmond crew are never ending! #hulahoop #fun #games #exercise #richmond #hamyouthcentre #volunteering pic.twitter.com/5Ksz9fdZtP

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) January 14, 2020

We arrived back at Wholefoods damp but satisfied to have done our bit for the January Challenge and ready for home and a hot shower, so Mark finished the evening off with a gentle cool down. Welcome back to Jo for her second run, and very best to Amy with the launch of Maidenhead & Windsor!

As mentioned in the briefing , there is a chance to increase kilometres and good deeds this Sunday on a Kingston Starter , details here

What a muggy night, which saw 11 (then 12) of us do some good at Ham Youth Centre this week!

It was great to be able to welcome 3 new runners, Lucy, Israel and Nipin to Richmond as well as Monika back for her 2nd run. They were straight into their stride too as after the multi-directional, hip opening and glute activating warm up training we did on Richmond green that was our tightest, paciest group run for a while that we had seen running along the river to Ham!

Usual Monday madness! #goodgym #mondays #richmondgreen #richmond #fitness #warmup #runninggroup #community #volunteering #fun pic.twitter.com/N8tA7fYeQ8

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) 25 June 2019

Our route was beautiful with the odd rain drop just to take the temperature down a little we chatted (and run of course). We got to pass some of the lovely views we have in our borough along river and then with a sharp left just past Ham House we were as good as at the task where Ben who leads the Youth Centre was kindly waiting with all the ingredients needed to get the dirtiest dikes sparkling again.

Beautiful group run along the river last night in Richmond #goodgym #richmond #riverside #grouprun #community #social #team #volunteering #task #hamyouthclub #bikecleaning #clammy #muggy pic.twitter.com/EvrX5hHkSl

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) 25 June 2019

He was super organised which was good as were up against the clock tonight to clean 12 bikes used by the children at the centre. The bikes which get to see plenty of action including trips to Richmond park on some great days out by the sound of it were now to see the first proper clean in 4 years so without to much delay we were on it!

There was buckets of water juggling around, de-greaser being passed back and forth, lube (can anyone open this?), the fresh smell of a strawberry …. Strawberry PTFE spray is it? red shirts a blur and above our chatter was the sound of brushes grinding some mud of off a cogset.

We were in flow and felt we had a strong chance at a WHEELIE GOOD PUN tonight for our run report, they started as dirty as the bikes, but we were cleaning them up just as fast as we were the spokes in front of us! The toughest area to clean was the chain really and as we agreed that point poor Jane lost her bucket, but she kept a handle on things literally and the path got a good clean too!!

GG taking an easy ride...on your bike! Hard work was in progress! #hamyouthclub #ham #richmond #running #muggy #sweaty #runninggroup #dogoodgetfit #mucoff #bikecleaning #greattask pic.twitter.com/wR19AyzAP7

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) 25 June 2019

Time was done and all had come together nicely to see everything completed from a chain reaction of our good energy in Richmond to help at a great community centre in our borough. It was wonderful to meet Ben and we hope to be back to help again soon but at this point an action photo was all we had time for before the dash home to Wholefoods to complete a run just shy of 8km.

Well done all – proud to run with you and looking forward to next week already!

Don’t forget our birthday is coming up soon (we are 3 years old), we will be celebrating with a picnic after the run on 15th July

Look up those community missions if you have time and need an extra fix of GG – Lots in Kingston at the weekends.

Oh and it’s our social next week so refreshments (drink kind) after the run if you can too ; - )