It was a rainy Wednesday evening as we all gathered for our weekly Goodgym fix. Rain and Goodgym generally don’t go hand in hand but tonight, the weather had other ideas. However, it didn’t deter us diehards from doing our pre-task workout (and besides, the rain wasn’t actually that bad to be fair!!). We headed out and did a brisk circular route – chatting and catching up on how each other’s weeks had been. It was lovely as always.

Back at the task, we were greeted by the lovely Dalton who gave us a warm welcome as always. The Lighthouse Centre does a lot of work to support the homeless and vulnerable people in our community. The work they do is invaluable. Adele, Karen, Kat, Maurice, Nigel & Nicola got stuck into the task of sorting out clothes donations. There must have been around 10 big bags of clothes, and it was our job to sort them into piles of men’s, women’s, bedding & accessories. As always, we had a good laugh as we sorted, with the obligatory modelling of clothes (by those brave enough, lol!). The underwear finds never fail to amuse us, lol!

It was lovely to be indoors on a bit of miserable night and it was lovely to be back at the Lighthouse Centre again, having not been there for a while.

Well done to all our amazing diehards for your continuous support and commitment to Goodgym, but most of all, your commitment to your local community. You’re truly wonderful.

Have a great week everyone.

Lots of love. Nicola xxx

Tonight, the cold was back with a vengeance, so it was really nice to be back inside at the lovely charity,** Motherwell**. Now that the darker, cooler nights have set in, we really are grateful for indoor tasks!!!

However, before setting to work on this evening's task, we headed out for a brisk 2 mile walk. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go into the park tonight because it’s now too late as it’s dark at 6.15!!! So. we circumnavigated the park instead!! as always, we had a good chat as we walked.

It was wonderful to have Adele back with us this evening. Adele, it was lovely to have you back with your smiley, cheery disposition as always. It was also great to haveEmilyjoining us again this week. Emily had a rare day off, so what better way to spend it than with all of us, sorting clothes! True dedication tha Emily!Karen and Maurice were also with us this evening but I know I speak for us all when I say how much we missedNigel tonight (although I'm not sure how sorry he was to be missing a clothes sorting task. hey Nigel?! Lol!

Our task this evening was helping to sort out some baby clothes. We were tasked with separating all the clothes into gender, then into age groups, then into autumn/winter and summer attire. The sorted clothes are going to be distributed to families. I think it’s great that preloved clothes are recycled.

While we were sorting, we enjoyed a bit of pop culture, lol, playing the game of name that tune (some of you will be old enough to remember that TV programme). We proved that everyone was really very knowledgeable about music, with the exception of Nicolawho couldn’t guess any of them correctly!

We had a bit of a laugh at poor Adele's expense tonight as we took a group photo at the end, only for her to realise that she'd put her T-shirt on inside out!! Never mind, Adele, we'll blame the poor lighting in the car!! 🤣

We didn’t quite manage to get through all the bags, but we certainly made a big dent. Well done everyone, another job well executed!!

Oh, and they're NOT big pants that -Maurice is holding, A prize for the first person who correctly guesses what it actually is, lol!!

Enjoy the rest of your week and I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Lots of love Nicola xxx

Rain, rain and more rain!!! Wow did the heavens open today!! We weren’t expecting a dry night at tonight’s session after the day we’d had, but that’s exactly what we got (of course we did – this is Goodgym afterall!).

Tonight, we were leafleting for fantastic charity, Motherwell, so it was amazing to have 7 members join us tonight, including a lovely first time Goodgymer Britt. It was great to welcome you Britt. We really hope you enjoyed your first experience of a Goodgym task and will come back and join us again soon.

We started the evening with two groups – a walking option and a running option. Karen, Nigel, Britt and Adele opted for the walk this evening and took in some of the local woodland. They really enjoyed the walk but after all the rain, it was a tad wet and slippery under foot. I didn’t hear any complaining though and in fact Karen emphasized how beautiful if was (despite the muddied up trainers!). Annaliza, Maurice and I had a run and headed down to the lovely Queen’s Park where we did and ‘almost but not quite’ lap of the Crewe Parkrun route. We had the park to ourselves (apart from the squirrels and geese of course!). I think the rain must have put people off coming out. We had a good run and then headed back to Motherwell.

When we got back to base, we distributed the leaflets between us and we put Karen in charge of the map (she loves a map but don’t give her a pen, whatever you do! ;)). It was fantastic to have 7 members all pounding the streets tonight, it made a HUGE difference in the number of leaflets we were able to get through letterboxes (teamwork makes the dream work….. it actually really does, lol!). There was plenty of puddle dodging tonight but luckily no rain dodging (Nigel carried his golf umbrella round all night for no reason :( but sods law would have it that it would have rained if he hadn't taken it!)

As our evening began to draw to an end, we realised that we’d somehow become separated from the lovely Annaliza and Britt. The last few streets we delivered to were like rabbit warrens, it was hardly any wonder we got separated. So sorry Annaliza and Britt. I hope you’ll forgive us.

A lovely night as always! Thanks for being my wonderful Goodgym buddies this evening and getting another fantastic job done!

And one final shout out to Adele for tonight’s pun – total lifesaver!!!! Hope you don't mind the little bit I added at the end, I couldn't resist!!

Love you all to bits!

Have a great week and see you all soon. Nicola xxx

It’s been beautiful weather today and the perfect day for starting a new task with a wonderful new task owner - Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Thank you for inviting us along to get stuck into this fantastic new project.

Tonight, we started our evening with two groups for exercise. Karen, Nigel and Maurice took the run, while Adele & Annaliza took the walk. It was a lovely night for either option and a great opportunity for a catchup and natter. Apparently, it was also a good night for getting lost….. mentioning no names… (Nigel) who somehow managed to branch off from the rest of the group…. it’s not at all like Nigel to get split off from the rest of the group……. 😉

Back at the task, we met up with Andy who is leading this project and he gave us the brief on what we were doing tonight. It was a good old physical task with lots of elbow grease required. The idea behind this task is to give this space a big overhaul and make it an area that can be enjoyed by users of the Acorn Centre to do some planting and observe the visiting wildlife.

The evening was spent cutting down bamboo. The bamboo is currently cutting out the light from the lounges in the day centre and so needed to come down. It was a physically demanding task but very rewarding to see the impact once the bamboo was gone. Another task was digging out the roots…. again, a physically demanding task but very rewarding. There’s still lots of work to be done and we look forward to going back again and continuing with the project!

A lovely evening spent with lovely friends doing a great job for the community. Fun, fitness, friendship and the feel-good factor! Win Win!!

Well done everyone! Another job well done! You’re all awesome! Special thanks to Karen for the fabulous photography skills tonight (sorry about the secateurs! ).

Have a great week and see you all soon!

Lots of love Nicola xxx