On a pleasant Monday evening 8 GoodGymers met at One Strawberry Lane before heading to West End Refugee Service. Aimee led the walking group, while Richard led the runners.

Despite a slight mix up over the availability of gardening tools, everyone set to work clearing debris from the garden, particularly tree branches.

Swift progress was made, allowing for a slightly longer, more scenic run back to One Strawberry Lane. Thank you very much to the lovely students from Newcastle University who were attending their first GoodGym session. We hope to see you again at some point Elise, Maria, Isla and Carla! You can keep up to date with what is happening by signing up to the weekly email, browsing the GoodGym website and following any of the GoodGym Newcastle social media pages.

Our next sessions are on Sunday, with some junior parkrun volunteering and (separately) some fundraising for the Marie Curie Campaign.

It didn’t actually feel that long since we were last at WERS, the brilliant West End Refugee service, and when I looked at tonight’s sign ups it gave me a sense of Deja vu! The only new addition was Jack, and a great new addition he was. We met at One Strawberry Lane, our brilliant hub which I think will just get cosier as winter creeps in.

The standard quick catch up on the weekend’s sessions and news before it was time to set off. As it was almost even split of runners and walkers, I decided to flip the session tonight and do the fitness session first, making good use of St James’ Park steps! Heart rates raised and legs definitely feeling warmer, we then made it the short journey uphill to WERS where thankfully everything we needed was waiting for us. WERS is an amazing organisation in the west end, supporting refugees in our city with all kinds of support they need. We’d been asked back tonight to continue clearing and tidying up the back garden.

Tonight was one of those simple, satisfying tasks that truly made a difference. Under the epic floodlights- expertly perched in the trees thanks to Tom, we armed ourselves with rakes and brushes and set about clearing the garden which was almost knee-deep in leaves. Everyone put their backs into it while discussing the Halloween weekend gone by.

Before long the paths and gardens were cleared and the grass was once again visible. I think the task owner and service users will definitely see a difference tomorrow. This was one of those classic GoodGym sessions where team work makes a real impact.

It was a beautiful autumn morning in Newcastle today and the lovely secluded garden of the West End Refugee Service (WERS) wasn’t a bad place to spend it. Catriona, Adam and Scott had begun the job of clearing the overgrown beds a few weeks ago so with Aimee and I joining in we were able to quickly get going and continue the task.

Ivy was definitely our nemesis today! Although the lovely task owner Alison was keen to keep a covering across the fence to maintain privacy, it had definitely invaded beyond its welcome! With a combination of shears, secateurs and brute force we cleared four bin bags of it away. Adam in particular clearly hadn’t burned enough energy at parkrun earlier so he took on the challenge of clearing a tree trunk of the pervasive creeper. I suspect that the tree will be breathing easier this afternoon!

A last run over with the rake really highlighted the difference we had made in not much more than an hour. There’s more to be done in the garden so ivy feeling we’ll be back - there are WERS places to be!

Tonight was our first session from the brilliant One Strawberry Lane base, and I think the group that came along were impressed! This central base is easy to find, comfy and cool and we think in the coming winter months will be a cosy place to catch up before our group sessions.

A small jog and walk up the road and we were welcomed by our task owner at WERS (west end refugee service) a charity doing amazing things to support the refugee community in our city. We’ve helped WERS before but not for five years (!) yet it felt really familiar being back. A simple task was requested: to start weeding their back garden space which will in time be turned into a welcoming space for their service users to hang out, chat and do some gardening of their own.

Small tasks like these are often where we can quickly make the biggest impact and in just half an hour, three bags of weeds had been removed and a huge space had opened up. The task owner was so impressed and started hatching a plan to have us back (with our floodlights!) as soon as we can. Look at those before and after photos!

A leisurely walk back together followed, but Mondays are made for high step counts and heart rates so we stopped off at St James’ Park for a step workout, much to the confusion of everyone passing by. Another perfect start to the week!

Tonight, we were back at the West End Refugee Service finishing off the cupboard tidy which 6 goodgymers led by Charlotte started last week. Well done to Tom and Sam who were super dedicated and helped both weeks!

Task owner Hazel met us and gave us an introduction to WERS, what we were going to be doing and were the gloves and hand sanitiser was.

The aim was sorting through donations which have being sitting there during lockdown and sort them into bags of different types of items (ladies tops, mens bottoms, mixed baby clothes etc), removing any damp or damaged goods.

Tom who was familiar with where the donations were from the week before led the charge pulling out bags of unsorted donations out the cupboard for us to root through and put in the most appropriate bag, which we labelled a swe went along.

Dan found a very fetching hat. Me and Louise debated the use of a donations of an M&S uniform. Michael was having loads of fun with various random things he found. We all felt sad we could only find one tiny Gruffalo welly and wondered were the other one could possibly be!

Once everything was correctly sorted, we moved all the suitable and sorted donations back inside as last weeks group had filled the garage. We also put all the unsuitable item back in the cupboard so they could be collected to be binned.

Hazel was very happy we managed to finish sorting all the donations and how commented how much time it saved compared to having one person sort through all the donations. Hopefully we will be back to help out again soon!

Tonight we helped out at the West End Refugee service which relies on volunteers to help it run.

A huge congratulations to Sabrina on her first ever GoodGym good deed tonight and first Community Mission. Also a massive well done to Sam for achieving her 25th good deed tonight. Go and give them both a cheer!

Sabrina arrived first, followed by Sam and Tom, then Debbie and Abbi on their bikes (extra kudos to Abbi who had some trouble with her bike but made it there!)

We were met by Hazel, who gave us a brief introduction, had everything so well organised and clearly explained the task.

The service has struggled over lockdown with a lack of volunteers. We were shown to an outdoor cupboard which was piled high with donations.

There was bags of donated clothing, bedding and a whole range of other items which desperately needed sorting.

We soon got stuck in sorting through the donations and putting them into different piles, then bagging/labelling them up.

Unfortunately some of the items had to be binned as they were damp/unsuitable to be donated.

We managed to clear a large amount from the cupboard, which was then neatly stored in the large garage next door.

There is still a lot more to do, but Hazel thanked us for our efforts. We look forward to returning next Wednesday!