Given it was a mild night, I decided to cycle over to the Baker's Cafe for We're Open. Now back on weekly it was a lot busier than last time I visited which was nice to see. Had a good chat both outside and inside. With no official music on, it was left to us to jam on the guitars (ok not me). Finished off by dropping some leaflets in at a nearby hotel to spread the word.

Our first time back at We're Open, at the new venue of the Baker's Cafe. It's a place we know well given we have done a number of tasks there already such as cleaning windows and clearing weeds. This time it was a less energetic task of sitting down and chatting with people. Was nice surprise to see Charles, as I thought I was going on my own. We met some nice guys from Somalia discussing the health benefits of camel milk, then played a few rounds of Dominoes.

Another interesting mission to We're Open. Plenty of new faces and a new challenge trying to communicate with new refugees who did not speak any English. Thankfully no words were needed over one of the oldest games in the world - backgammon. Great fun until Paul split coffee all over the board. Whats the overexcited emoji?

Four, if I'm not mistaken, was a record turnout for our regular Community Mission to We're Open. Which was handy, given we got there pretty early and could get a four person game of Quirkle in over a coffee. Play of the game went to Charles with a double-quirkle. When people started to arrive we split up and chatted, but within 10 mins we were back in a big circle singing and eating cake in celebration of Corinne's birthday. It was a smaller crowd than normal due to cold weather but nevertheless fun as usual.

The coffee beans were ground and brewed as once again Swindon Goodgymers attended the Coffee #1 coffee shop to chat and drink coffee at the regular We're Open event!

The focus of We’re Open is to bring the local community together through the shared love of good coffee (or tea), conversation, music, cake, and maybe a little competitive board game playing, which alas was not in much evidence tonight! These get togethers happen every Thursday evening and are organised by The Swindon City of Sanctuary group to help make refugees and asylum seekers feel welcome and supported in the wider community.

We love a good chat at GoodGym, so are really pleased to be a part of this event. Regular attendee Charles was joined on this occasion by Carly, Gina and Mike, who all ran from different locations to attend the event. In no time, we were at all were chatting to people from various countries including Iran, Afghanistan, Uganda and China.

Also in attendance was Swindon's Omer Homer, who is an extremely inspirational figure in the Swindon running community. Omer started running in 2017 and his target is to win the Swindon Half Marathon, which is an ambitious goal given he had never run before, has had no formal training and has severe injuries from an encounter with an exploding landmine. We're all wishing him the best of luck next month!

No doubt GoodGym will be returning to We're Open soon, so if you have not tried it before and enjoy a good natter, why not sign up for the next one?! Remember running to attend is optional!

Can't wait until the next We're Open for GoodGym goodies?

• This Tuesday 20th August, 6pm we’ve got a TASK CHANGE when we're back at the Traverser at Steam to continue weed whacking. Sign up here!
• Next Tuesday 27th August, 6pm, we're Clearing out Overgrown Planters at the Saltway Centre for Aiming High Families. More info here!
• We’re also kicking off 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.

Pauland Charles attended City of Sanctuary 'We're Open'. A task we have been to a few times before, but first time at new venue Coffee #1.

The new cafe is still very central to Swindon meaning a good turnout of at least 25. There was a live singer performing when we got there, which we had not experienced at We're Open before but apparently is quite normal. Like a mini concert, lots of joining in, clapping and even some dancing. People were really enjoying themselves and when the singer took a break we started the games and chat.

Lots of familiar faces and Charles as usual got involved in the dominos even managing to win a round, rare. Nice to hear people making progress on legal status, housing and employment.

Free tea and coffee provided by Coffee #1, so thanks to them for hosting.