Tonight was our regular visit to the brilliant Elliott House, where we are lending a hand at least once a month to volunteers from Changing Lives to make the massive gardens a nicer place for residents to hang out. Elliott House does amazing work for vulnerable young men in our city, and this partnership has been with us from the very start of GoodGym Newcastle. It was great that we had two new runners tonight, welcome to Katie and Vicki who joined us for their first experience of GoodGym and what a cracking night they had!

Well done for getting stuck in!

There were many reasons to be cheerful as always, and we had a great recap on the previous week's running and doing good things including Newcastle's newest parkrun addition and the weekend missions Yesterday and on Saturday where the brilliant Liz earned her black tshirt! Give that woman a cheer! It was my turn to lead the walking group while Katy took care of the warm up which I am assured was brilliant and a true test of Rock/Paper/Scissors skill!

Meeting at the task in perfect timing, we had a quick briefing with Alice our brilliant task owner before setting off to work. It was more weeding, clearing and tidying up, and the first time for us to road-test our brand new gloves, kindly donated to us by everyone's favourite boxing couple Katy and Ross.

Thank you Team Watson-Dobson!

We had to start the night doing a photo shoot for Andrew who needed some photos for his story in the GoodGym book celebrating 10 years, coming soon. Evan was on hand to tell him some stories, and throw potatoes at him while we got the photos done. Back in the garden, pallets were moved, weeds were pulled and we even seen an aggressive side to Tom as he raked and dug in the long grass! We were treated to some brilliant herby smells and Ross and Aimee got some brilliant wildlife photos too.

Evan even unearthed the head of a scarecrow and did his very best Worzel Gummidge impression for a photo.

Job done and back down the hill we trotted to the fitness session. It was hill repeats tonight, focusing on three areas of technique to drive up the hill with a little more of a bang. It was so great to see everyone working hard and encouraging each other.. when they got their breath back! We did the session in the shadow of St James Park, and right under the flat where Andrew used to live.. if only he'd known the weird circumstances that would bring him back!

I have to give a special shout to Rachael who promised us last week she was going to conquer the hill of Westgate Road. Despite being unable to make it tonight, Rachael went along to Westgate Rd this afternoon and ran the route solo. It's hard enough to do that hill when you HAVE to, so doing it when you don't is even more impressive. We think you're awesome Rachael - you nailed it.

There are a few new Good things happening this week!

It's our first ever Training Session at the Quayside on Wednesday tonight - please note, this is for GoodGym Members only. Come along to learn and have fun by the beautiful Quayside!

You can also get involved in a fantastic Community Mission on Thursday night as part of the Star and Shadow's big build project.

It's Bank Holiday next Monday which means Guaranteed Sunshine so come along, we are still running and walking! It's another chance to help Moving on Tyne and Wear with a big leaflet drop bonanza We are also hosting a parkrun takeover at the new Leazes parkrun in a few weeks. Find out about that and get involved here

Have a great week running, walking and doing good things. Anji

Woah! What a turn out for our monthly visit to Elliott House for Changing Lives. We have been lending a hand to this amazing home for vulnerable men in our city for the past few months, and tonight I think we got more done than ever!

There was once again a million things to catch up on, from some epic performances at a very hot and hilly Durham City Run, to Evan's victory at parkrun, to the GoodGym York camping weekend and not forgetting three fantastic Community Missions that took place over the weekend.

You can catch up on them here: Paul's solo mission to Nunsmoor A very wet one at St Lawrence Park And a duo effort at Harbottle Park

Big Kudos to Paul for ignoring the terrible weather and doing the double this weekend. Go and give that man a big cheer! Don't forget we are always looking for more Task Force members to source and lead new Community Missions, and if you've done 10 Good Deeds you are eligible to join the Task Force. Just look for the link on your dashboard.

We were impressed to see Andrew along with a very dramatic bandage on his poorly arm and a very bashed up knee after coming off his bike at the GG York camping weekend. What a trooper! It was amazing that we had three new runners long tonight too as well as welcoming back a few familiar faces we haven't seen in a while in Faye, Jon and Amy who is usually only available for weekend missions. We got warmed up with a brain twisting game of exercise, shouting out food and delivering harsh punishments to those who ended up 'out', then up the hill to Changing Lives we went.

We were met by Alice who had a big area ready for us to clear and weed and straight to work we went. A few of the residents popped out to thank us.

It's brilliant that this is your gym!

Lots of superb digging went on around some beautiful smelling herbs and thankfully there were no medical emergencies this week- although we were very careful to keep Louise away from the Insect Hotel after last week! Evan managed to find a frog which was quickly named Kevin and rescued to a safer area of the garden. Thankfully this whole incident was kept away from my sight as for some weird reason I am terrified of frogs.

You can hopefully tell from our Before and After photos that we made a big difference tonight, a job we will get finished at our next visit in a few weeks' time.

Katy led a fantastic fitness session tonight where a baton was passed around a circle, with runners on the outside chasing their way back while everyone else did a series of exercises. Check out the great photos of the session in Summerhill Park- the perfect summer's night!

I want to say a massive HIP HIP HOORAY and bye bye to GG NCL original Amy who is heading off to London to start her new job next week. We hope to have you back as a tourist in the future and we will truly miss you. Thank you for everything you have done for GoodGym in Newcastle, we think you are brilliant.

We don't have any Community Missions listed this weekend, but keep checking back in case anything pops up last minute. We'll see you back next Monday for a big clear out of the Room of Doom at Byker Community Centre where hopefully there will be no frogs.

Have a great week knowing you started it the best way doing good things.

Anji x