Tonight saw us meet at a new starting location - the Orbital. A great perk of the post lockdown format is that by meeting at different start venues, we get to explore new running routes! It was so lovely to welcome Sarah back again and see Charles gives his wings their first outing! Run leader Sam had done a pre run recce so after informing everyone it was a nice flat mile, we headed off to Chippenham Close with a combo of running, walking and lots of chatting.

With no messing about, we arrived early! We inspected the garden but this appeared to be in tip top condition. Once Dawn and Kevin arrived they wasted no time in putting us to work. Much to Dawn’s delight, we started by ripping up the one way system - a sign of being a step closer to normality again. Much of the work that Men in Sheds does is to restore old and tired furniture. Helen got involved with this by doing some painting whilst the rest of us helped with dismantling wooden pallets kindly donated by a local car dealership. This wood will go on to be rustic shelving units for a new central community cafe opening soon. There was lots and lots of noise, hammering, and bashing! Lots of strong muscles being tested as we prised them apart - putting the gym into GoodGym whilst doing the good. So strong Adam broke the hammer in half!

You can check out what we’ve got coming up here!

Next week we’re meeting at Broome Manor Golf Club and heading off to Christchurch. Hope you can join us 😊

We started the evening with an ice breaker (thankfully only figuratively this week!) about our favourite aspects of a wedding - some market research for our run leader Mike. Unsurprisingly, Richard the Vicar trumped all other suggestions, and has definitely been to the most weddings! Ice well and truly broken, we set off on our task.

Not content with the distance of one of our longer runs, we went on an 'accidental' detour around the local lanes before we reached our location. After deciding to go left based on absolutely no information at all, we made it to Men in Sheds at Chippenham Close Community Centre, our location for the evening.

We were there to help with a number of different tasks; sanding various pieces of furniture ready for painting, freshening up some walls with a lick of paint, and 'cutting in' in the toilets. Once Luke and I had learnt what on earth 'cutting in' actually meant, we split into teams and got cracking.

After misplacing the sandpaper - rough start - team work made the dream work over the in corner, where we were sanding down a large cabinet ready to transform it into a slate grey paint storage unit. Very chic!

Things got emulsion-al at just how good the hallway looked with a fresh lick of paint...

Tracey got pretty handsy with some dust, and Sam tidied up after us all with the hoovering - task in the bag!

Before leaving the task, we devoured some delicious sausage rolls handmade by Dawn (where does she get the time? Between 18:00 and 18:20 apparently!), and then ran back to the Oasis to celebrate Stuart getting his wings for 100 good deeds with a fabulous cake made by Tracey. It was so good you couldn't even tell it was gluten free! Congratulations Stuart!

Join us next week to run or walk to the Haven Day Centre for Swindon Night Shelter, ready to make some windows squeaky clean for the guests staying at the Winter Housing Provision. Check it out here!

This was our third Group Run to help Renew Swindon. Part of the UK Men’s Sheds Association, they focus on men’s mental health and wellbeing, by providing welcoming, safe and supportive environments to connect with others, be active, learn new skills and share knowledge & give to others through renewing, repairing and re-using materials which would otherwise go to landfill.

Our first trip back in March was to do some sanding at their old site in Cheney Manor, then in August we checked out their new digs for a split task of sanding there, and lifting and shifting at a local school.

The task this time around? A spot of light sanding and painting the woodwork we had previously sanded down!

Over the past few weeks, we’ve noticed that Dave is always alone in our pics, and so a side task was to make sure Dave had a photo taken with every GoodGym’er on the task!

This included a new member of GoodGym Swindon who also dresses in red, name begins with H, and loves a bit of tidying up. Check out the photos for who that might be!

After meeting at the Oasis, Run Leader Charles brought us outside for the usual scene setting, during which we congratulated Hannah for her recent PB at parkrun, and our absent friends Stuart and Jason for their mountain climbing escapades, and just in time for Lily to arrive too. Then we were off!

This week’s run was extended for us to zap Beat the Street boxes. If you haven’t heard, we’re disbanding the GoodGym Swindon group to help parkrun Swindon win money for charity and join their BTS world record attempts! It’s simple to switch on the BTS website - ask co-team captains Mike or Richard if you’re interested in more info.

When we arrived, Dawn and Kevin were there waiting for us, and shared the big plans for the former community hall – including more info on the shed itself, a public hire space, and even a developing women’s shed, starting in the New Year.

Then they split us into two groups – one set sanding down a church pew they had been donated (no prizes for guessing the two GG’ers keen to join that group); The Vicar and Sandy Sam, and another painting the woodwork. We soon got sanding and painting, and the different wood objects soon looked far less painted/far more painted, depending which group you were in!

We were soon finished, and waved goodbye to Dawn and Kevin, and headed back out for Beat the Streeting on the way back to the Oasis!

When we arrived back to the Oasis, we were greeted by a Sperring spectacular – it was Safety First's Simon's birthday! Even though they didn’t attend the Group Run, Simon, honorary GoodGym’ers Luke and Grace, and Alethia met us with cake for the post run coffee.

Happy Birthday Safety First Simon!

More GoodGym greatness:

• Next Tuesday we’re weeding around the Bakers Café in the Railway Village. A special Halloween task – some of us will be dressing up. Get involved here!

• This Sunday, we’re running the Avebury Trust 10K. This is Helen’s FIRST ever 10k run, and she’s been doing loads of fundraising for an upcoming charity trip. Come and join us for a run – or supporting – here!

• We’re also looking to grow missions in the town to help older people with one-off tasks, and coach runs to help combat loneliness and social isolation. Interested in more info? Check out the links, or speak to the Task Force.

11 of us ran 8km to Renew Swindon in Penhill, while 6 of us ran 3km to Ferndale Primary School, 3 of who also ran another 5km to meet the Renewer’s!

This week we were double-trouble, with a two-some of tasks for gregarious GoodGym’ers. The planned task? Lifting, Shifting, Sorting and Painting at Renew Swindon's New Home, Chippenham Close Community Centre. We last visited Renew Swindon back in March in their previous location at Cheney Manor for some sanding.

The emergency call-in? Midday, GoodGym time - 6 hours, we got a call from Ferndale Primary School with a last minute hump and dump task. We last visited Ferndale school back in June to help with a gardening task.

Before we set off to our different tasks, our icebreaker was what was our favourite things about Swindon. Our responses include a great running community (GoodGym and parkrun); nice restaurants; great job opportunities; a location close to some perfect places; and brilliant heritage.

And so we split up to our two tasks! The Renew crew set off up the (Pen)hill – the speedies led by Emma The Trainer, and the steadies led by Sandy Sam.

We met Kevin and Dawn who shared the story of Renew Swindon with us. Part of the UK Men’s Sheds Association, they focus on men’s mental health and wellbeing, by providing welcoming, safe and supportive environments to connect with others, be active, learn new skills and share knowledge & give to others through renewing, repairing and re-using materials which would otherwise go to landfill.

Our tasks? Empty a room of gubbins for collection, and sand down the woodwork in the hallway for painting the next day.

The former community centre hall was most recently used as a boxing ring, and so we had:

• IN THE LIFTING AND SHIFTING CORNER - Tracey, Emma, Mike and Tracy.
• IN THE SANDING CORNER – Rachel, David, Hannah, Andrew, Becky, Sam and Helen.

LET’S GET READY TO RRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUMBBLE!

Meanwhile, not far away in the borough, we were answering an urgent emergency. If there’s humping and dumping to be done in your neighbourhood, who you gonna call? GoodGym! Six GoodGym runners answered an SOS call from Jane at Ferndale Primary School to help with some more lifting and shifting of rubbish from the playground to a skip. Led by Charles, they made our way down to the school yard where there was a huge pile of rubbish to be moved – and quite a collection of slugs and snails and very smelly rubbish to contend with.

Undeterred, we quickly got stuck in with Trolley Dolly Graham shifting the larger items, while Jo couldn’t be separated from the wheelbarrow. Sarah, Sharon and Gina flexed their muscles carrying rubbish to the skip with sprint shuttles on the way back – Gina quickly covered more than kilometre just at the task! This really was running with purpose! With some good old fashioned GoodGym grunt, the task was completed in around 20 minutes. Any representatives from Guinness World Records available to check that?!

Jane was so pleased with our speedy shifting that after hugs all round, she sent us on our way with a packet of biscuits, aka GoodGym fuel! These were entrusted to Sarah, Sharon and Graham who made their way back to the Oasis while Charles, Gina and Jo ran up the hill to meet the other intrepid sand and shifters.

After the Renew Crew were complete and the obligatory landscape, portrait, square, nature, beauty, wildlife and advertising photography was taken, we were off back to the Oasis.

And that’s where the mystery begins… there were no biscuits when we all returned later to the Oasis. CRUMBS!

• Is it a custard crime or some rich tea rapscallion?
• Did Sarah, Sharon and Graham eat them all?
• Do we call the world record people or the police first?
• Will those responsible for biscuitgate ever be found?
• Will the Jammie Dodgers get away with the crime they committed against those who shift grime?!

Interested in investigating the mystery further? GREAT because there’s loads of GoodGym goodness upcoming:

• This Thursday, a good old chinwag with Sanctuary Seekers with We're Open @ Coffee 1!
• Next Tuesday, 6pm, we’re back at the Gorse Hill Community Centre for more indoor painting. Sign up here!
• We’re also kicking off missions in the town to help older people with one-off tasks. Interested in more info? Check out here or speak to the TaskForce.

Today for Swindon GoodGym 15 inshedible runners ran 2.6k to help at the Men in Sheds project. Men in Sheds is an initiative that has been set up to help isolated and lonely men get back to being social ❤️ We discovered that you did not need to be a man to join Men in Sheds and Women in Sheds is being setup!

During the warm up we welcomed Mark. Mark is a GoodGym tourist and The Trainer from Lambeth no less!

The ice breaker and chatter maker was something that you believed as a child. Teresa believed in cupboard monsters! Jason believed he could be a professional footballer; this dream was smashed when it was discovered his big balls would cause confusion on the pitch 🤣

Jog on! There were no walkers so Helen, who had volunteered as Walk Lead, joined us and back marked 🌟 Thank goodness the rain had stopped, however it was cold and windy and everyone was glad it was only a short run there!

We got a bit lost in BSS House trying to find the unit - GG’ers splitting up in all directions I was concerned we’d lose someone 🤣 Kirsty did an emergency stop at her Physios for directions, it was like herding cats getting everyone back!!

After a fab briefing from Kevin and Dawn we cracked on with our task; sanding furniture for Men in Sheds to paint and sell. Stuart enjoyed his black latex gloves a little too much and did a fine job at modelling the face mask...not on his face....he made a right ‘boob’ out of it 😂

Sander Sam spent the task sanding her nails❤️ Not a fan of sanding Sam defo enjoyed the social side of the task today😆 Andrew dutifully did the sanding in their selected piece, grateful to be out of the house away from puking moaning kids🤢

The Vicar teamed up with Big Balls on a piece, thankfully there was enough room for all four of them along the work bench 👍😆

Carly and Tourist Mark took on a delicate piece with the help of Helen ❤️ don’t rub too hard and don’t scratch the glass!! Kirsty was next to them, face masked up and also making a boob out of herself with the face mask - it is a look that does not stop being funny 😆

Squished out in the corridor but not forgotten we the fab foursome of Rhoda, Teresa, Lily and Tracey! It was tough taking photos - you’d say ‘smile’ to be greeted by a face with half a bra strapped on it - smiles were hidden but you could tell from the fab chats and laughs as great time was had by all ❤️

Want to have some more fun with GG Swindon? How about joining Mike from the Task Force at our Community Mission to Penhill Haven this Saturday? Swindon parkrun is cancelled so why not?! Check it out and sign up here! Or, why not join us again next week at Swindon Food Collective; there is a limit on the register so don't delay - sign up here today!