Four GoodGymers helped we Do Tennis in partnership with Urban Green Newcastle with path clearing on an autumnal Saturday morning.

The 10am start time meant we had all managed to fit a parkrun before hand but had mostly done different local ones with Scott doing Town Moor, Tanya and Debbie attending Leazes and me mostly walking Jesmond Dene due to a sore ankle.

The job was simple but very satisfying, raking leaves and removing soil and weeds from the path near the tennis courts where leaves are blown and then get stuck on fence. Once we had done the edge of the tennis courts we also did a nearby set of steps.

The difference we to the path and steps in only one hour was UnbeLEAFable!

A big group for a satisfying task, clear skies and loads of GoodGym goodness at Leazes Park tonight.

A perfectly autumnal evening awaited a group of eight GoodGymers assembled to help the brilliant We Do Tennis, the organisation that has been giving our city tennis courts much-needed make overs. These fab facilities can now be accessed for free and it was lovely to see them in use when we arrived tonight. With Damu and Tom running, everyone else walked and met Malcolm from Urban Green who was along to support the task and bring all the equipment we needed. It was also the first outing of our portable floodlights in quite a long time!

The tasks tonight needed a lot of muscle as we were given the job of weeding the entire perimeter of the tennis courts, clearing them of leaves as we went. There was some musical accompaniment as groups in the basketball courts had brought along speakers, which added even more atmosphere to a fun task. With the darkness creeping in we finished under the light of head torches which again felt really special. It’s hard to get before and after photos by floodlight so you’ll have to take our word for it that this was a huge transformation.

We ran out of time for a fitness session tonight, instead finishing off by helping Malcolm to return the tools back to the store, under the shadow of floodlights it was a Blair Witch Project-esque end to the night… but don’t worry, we all survived.

There’s another We Do Tennis helping this Saturday at Nuns Moor Park if you can come along and help, we'd love to see you.

On a lovely Autumnal Sunday morning, we had our first We Do Tennis task at Paddy Freeman's park. We have a few more tasks with them in the coming weeks, and the main objective is to make the courts accessible and give them some Goodgym loving care.

The courts at Paddy Freeman's are surrounded by some beautiful trees, but unfortunately there are a few intrusive fauna hanging around too. So it was time to break their serve.

Aimee was already slicing away with Urban Green (who have partnered up with We Do Tennis in the maintenance of the courts in and around Newcastle) by the time the rest of the gang arrived. Anji and Paul made quick work of some overgrowth with back hand swings. With Damu making a real grass court battle.

After we made our way all around the perimeter fence, it was time to quickly clear away the colourful autumn leaves, ready for an eager new generation of tennis players who were waiting to to show off their skills. It was really good to see an immediate impact of the benefits of our morning's graft.

We finished the day off by having a quick cuppa, biscuits and cake. Game, set and match!