3 GoodGymers ran to help clear up the green spaces at the Kenilworth Centre.

What a wonderful day for a first run back! Having taken a month off exercise to recover from back surgery, it was lovely to get the legs turning again for a Group Run. And what better way to do it than alongside Katherine and our newest member Jelka.

After a quick chitchat in the Abbey Fields car park, we were off up Abbey Hill at a brisk power walking pace to ease Alexandra back into some cardio for the first time in a while. On arriving at the centre, we saw that everything was laid out conveniently for us and got stuck in. With Katherine on litter picking duty, Jelka and Alex tackled the overgrown shrubbery around the shed. Despite the deceptively cold weather, we made quick work of the trash and the weeds, disposing of everything in the appropriate bins.

After one final trip to the compost heap and depositing the keys into the letterbox, we made our way back towards the car park. Feeling empowered by a job well done, we even braved a light jog down Abbey Hill! A final stretch and some outdoor clothing recommendations later and we went our separate ways.

5 Goodgymers returned to the Kenilworth Centre to help deep clean the upstairs kitchen.

After a short jog from Abbey Fields to the Centre, we were ready to get stuck in lifting some serious stains from the kitchen floor.

Having had a few issues locating the right mop the first time around, we were delighted to find that all the necessary cleaning equipment had been nicely laid out for us in the cleaning cupboard. So armed with mops, brushes, industrial strength paint stripper and Henry the hoover, we made our way upstairs.

Lilian and Alex got to work pulling white goods out of the walls while Nigel was tasked with making the journeys up and down the stairs to sort out our water supply. While the scrubbing was taking place behind the fridges, Katherine got busy with the vacuum, ensuring that the space was clear and ready for a good mop.

Cue Allan who joined us halfway through and took the reins, getting rid of our muddy footprints and making sure that all the areas that Nigel scrubbed got a final once-over. Judging by the brown puddles being wiped away, it’s a good job he did!

Once all the equipment had been replaced and Lilian had the chance to wipe down every available surface, we headed outside to the MUGA for a quick fitness session. Taking it in turns to come up with a brutal exercise for the group to complete, we definitely met our S&C goals for the week.

After a quick jog down Abbey Hill and stretch, we were done for the evening!

4 Goodgymers returned to the Kenilworth Centre to help with a deep clean of their kitchen floor.

After a quick warm up and jog up Abbey Hill, we arrived at the Kenilworth Centre ready to give the kitchen floor a good scrubbing.

First job was to find all the cleaning equipment that we needed! Whilst Katherine tried to do this, James jumped straight in moving the fridges and dishwasher out of the way and getting on his hands and knees to try and clean all the corners and nooks and crannies. The area underneath the coffee machine was a particularly grubby area from a few spillages, but this looked spotless after James had given it some elbow grease.

Once the corners were clean, Nigel and Allan set to work with the mop and bucket. Looking at the colour of the water afterwards, there was certainly a lot of dirt that was collected from the floor! We then had to strategically plan our exit so that we could leave the kitchen without stepping on our nice clean floor.

With yellow wet floor signs in place (of course) we locked away all the cleaning products in the cleaning cupboard and made use of the outdoor MUGA (which I am reliably informed is the correct term) for a fitness session. We had burpees, press ups, lunges, star jumps and gallops Miranda style.

It was then just a quick jog (this time down Abbey Hill) back to our start location at Abbey Fields.

4 Goodgymers returned to the Kenilworth Centre to help with a litter pick and collecting leaves for leaf mulch.

After a short run up the rather steep hill from Abbey Fields James and Nigel set to work raking and sweeping leaves from where they had collected on the borders and paths of the Centre and used the dustpans to help scoop them up into used compost bags.

Allan meanwhile set to work with the litter pickers hunting out rubbish around the back of the Centre (although some people suggested he might have run off to the Almanac for a swift pint and to warm up) ;-)

It took no time at all before we had filled 9 whole bags with damp leaves and Allan reappeared with an impressive full bag of rubbish, so we had to quickly take back any suggestions of slacking as that was a job well done!

We tucked away the bags of leaves ready to rot down over the next few months to make some lovely leaf mulch for the Centre's garden. We also admired the lovely new plaques that are now centre stage in the memorial garden before heading back down the hill to Abbey Fields.

To finish off the session we completed a few interval hill reps in Abby Fields which really got the blood pumping and helped to get Allan and James revved up for the Coombe 8 on Sunday!

Do you remember, The 21st night of September? Three runners ran to the Kenilworth Centre, To clear all the brambles away…

Our shears were clicking, While the weeds and the thorns we were snipping, As we trimmed in the night, remember, How James and Laura cleared that debris away... oh yeah!

(With apologies to Earth, Wind and Fire...)

4 Goodgymers returned to the Kenilworth Centre to help with the next stage of their garden revamp project.

Given the hot weather this evening we decided to walk to the Centre rather than attempting to run up Abbey Hill in the heat. We arrived to find a lovely note from Amy, the gardener who has been in charge of the project, explaining exactly where the composted bark chippings needed to go.

Lifting and moving the bags of chippings was hot work in the warm weather. Having been sat in the sun all day, the bags that the chippings came in had acted a bit like a greenhouse, so the chippings themselves were positively steaming when we took them out of the bags.

Having covered the priority areas, there were still enough chippings (and just enough time) for us to do all of the borders that have recently been planted up. We said goodbye to Phil who was cycling home and the rest of us had a jog/walk around Abbey Fields, reminiscing about the horrendous hills that formed part of the Kenilworth May Day 10k route (and deciding to avoid them on this occasion).

Having been to help with the garden project a number of times over recent months it was lovely to return and see the huge changes that have taken place there including some lovely new benches in addition to the planting. Putting down the compost today felt like one of the finishing touches.

It was also lovely to welcome back Phil to tonight's Group Run and we look forward to seeing him again during our Community Mission on Sunday at the Leamington Half Marathon.