Perfect summer running weather provided a warm welcome for the group to the streets of the borough of Richmond-upon-Thames for one of our further beneficiaries from our start point in Richmond town centre. This evening we trialled out a second stop which allowed those who live on the other side of the river to fall into stride with us as we ran through St Margaret's and into Twickenham. Red GoodGym t-shirts ablaze, we carried on running, chatting about life, the Olympics and everything to lovely INS.

INS are always so welcoming to us and always bring out the water when we arrive. This evening's task involved prepping and rejuvenating garden furniture and the front door with plenty of sanding before filling, painting and oiling took place.

In classic GoodGym style, the transformation was both satisfying and speedy, a necessity to make sure those who wanted to could be home in time for the 800m Olympic final, or the half price Itsu sushi, whatever the motivation it encouraged a swift return run!

INS have asked us to come back to paint the railings and the office spaces indoors, so keep an eye out for further tasks at the location.

A warm welcome indeed at GoodGym this evening as the sun came out and Lucy led her first session to qualify as a fitness leader. Lucy took us all through the intro and a good warm-up to prep the body for a 4km run to INS in Twickenham.

The lovely base at INS is always very grateful for our help and the mix of weather had led the garden to take on a life of its own, ready to be tamed by the red shirt gang!

Jobs included putting up the gazebo, clearing the summer house of extra furniture and many eight-legged guests, clearing the paving areas of moss and grass, sweeping, weeding, watering, putting the garden furniture out and clearing the front area. The transformation was great for that end of task feel good factor, as was the return run and the completion of Lucy's qualification, congratulations Lucy! 🎉🎉🎉

Various tasks awaited the group in the garden at INS this morning, requiring similar tools but very different levels of force.

Adam and Karla set about the more genteel task of weeding the raised beds, carefully discerning between friend and foe before discarding the offending weeds.

JP, Chris, and Rosie took to the alleyway to scrape moss from the path to make it safer for service users. After a brief interlude to break down a cabinet for later disposal at the tip, all debris was swept up and we left the place looking much tidier than when we arrived.

Christmas lights on display along our 4km run to INS, a charity in Twickenham who help adults with neurological conditions, their facilities needed a bit of cleaning and tidying so we jumped into window cleaning mode. It didn't take long for our gang of Goodgymers to get them all sparkling, inside and outside.

It was good to hear all the chatting while working, even an impromptu physio session for T! Job finished in record time and the staff at INS were very impressed.

A group of us ran the 4km back to Richmond taking in the sights - a longer run than usual but a great way to finish off a Monday evening.

Great work everyone!

It’ll Be All White On The Night

Seven of Richmond’s finest GoodGymmers made their way to lend a couple of hands (and an artistic eye or two) at INS Twickenham. INS (Integrated Neurological Services) is a not-for-profit organisation that supports people who have had their life impacted by neurological conditions such as a stroke. Their therapy room had been freshly repainted by another group of brilliant volunteers, and the team at INS had asked for GoodGym to help finish the job by freshening up the skirting boards, which no longer seemed to match the crisp white walls.

T, Chris and Adam were already working away when the group run (made up of Sam, Liz, Nina and Lucy) arrived from their 4.5k run up. Sarah from INS had a plethora of paintbrushes at the ready and we all got down on the floor to get on with the task.

No point skirting around, but we did a great job. We so efficient there was even time to paint the radiators too. The room seemed to glow! A quick wipe up of the paint drips (thanks to Chris and his cleaning cloth), a team photo and then we head back out into the impending storm to make our way home. Paint no stopping us!

A warm welcome as always at INS to help prepare the front of the building for their fundraising event taking place this week. They are putting a marquee on the front drive to carry out their '30' event: anything from 30 miles to 30 cupcakes! To get it ready, we helped to remove weeds and vines from the surrounding stone borders and fences, filling up lots of bags, ready to take to the tip.

The visit also gave the opportunity to check out the painting task for our next visit in October, we would love to see you there!