As we bid farewell to November and start to think of all those December parties coming up, 9 goodgymers met for their weekly task in Cardiff.

We welcomed, for the first time Henry.

CROESO

We also had a celebration for our Flo, who had decided to celebrate her 50th, 100th and 200th in one go. They had not fallen on group runs so tonight was a special for them.

Our walkers took to the streets first, whilst Lucy led the warm up. Once we were warmed up and raring to go we started our run to the task.

It was a cold evening, but the Winter lights were on and this made up for the temperature.

The runners arrived first at Samye, followed by Flo, and then the walkers. We were all inside warming up for the briefing, tonight's tasks were some painting in one room and then bringing down the Xmas trees from the attic and putting them up in the relevant rooms.

Before we started, Flo was given her wings to wear for her 100th.

Henry and Michael we're straight on painting duties, once our task leader, Lorraine let us into the room.

Lorraine then took Su, Martin, Lucy, Rosie, Flo, Dylan and Neda to sort out the decorations.

With Michael busy painting, Martin, Flo and Su were also on photography duties for tonight's report. Trees out of the attic and it was time to put them together and decorate.

The smaller tree had to be stripped of decorations so that it resembled a tree once more, whilst the rest we given plenty of bling for the season.

The trees were then moved around to three different rooms, but the lights will be held back until Monday for a December 01st switch on.

Now that the tasks were completed, it was back to Flo, but this time for her to pop on the goodgym Cardiff cape for her 200th task....

Well done Flo 🎉

As a treat, Lorraine had made us soup with a choice of Minestrone and Carrot. It was soon eaten, with some lovely bread and a selection of baklava that they had spare.

We gave our thanks and headed back to our start location. We will be returning in two weeks to help one more time this year.

Henry, it was great to meet and chat with you on your first run and task with goodgym, and we hope to see you again soon.

GoodGymers, join us next week as we help a new place for the first time.

Sign up here

Not even the end of November and we are already finishing our last card task. There will be a few community run / cycles coming up to deliver cards around Cardiff though for anyone wanting to join.

Tonight was all about the craftiness, as Michael found his newest happy place. A shop so perfect that he didn't want to leave.

All ready with craft materials, they went to pick up the runners. A quick run out and about Cardiff, ending at the task location. We met with the walkers and cyclists, grabbed coffee and muffins and it was time to start.

The task, to get creative and make some cards which would be delivered out to our charity partners in Cardiff. As well as a few extra which would be going out to the care homes.

There was a lot of excitement at the pack of stickers that had just been purchased, and with good reason.

We made a great selection of cards, and will eagerly look forward to the community task to get them delivered.

Tonight was our yearly Halloween run.

Michael had promised that if others came in some kind of costume, he would wear the inflatable dinosaur costume.

We met at our usual start location in the City Centre, after a quick chat we welcomed our newest person Deborah, who had joined us at a goodgym run at Love Trails.

CROESO

After a brief moment inflating, and some strange looks from the pub behind us, it was time to set off on our run.

We had cheers of dinosaur, t-rex, there were beeping cars and lots of waves. Maybe we should have a T-Rex more often.

The task tonight was helping at Cwtch Together, a charity run disability play project, which promotes inclusive play and socialisation for disabled children and their families.

They are holding 2 Halloween parties, Friday and Saturday, and our fun task was to help set up the spooktacular event.

Everyone got into the spirit as we dressed tables, got pumpkins ready, built a play house, decorated the hall and carried in sand pits and black boards.

As we ended our evening with the usual group photo, the t-rex returned for the jog back.

Join us next week as we begin our Xmas tasks for 3 weeks.

Tonight's mission for the Cardiff crew, the same as usual

Do Good, Get Fit

Our task, helping at the Salvation Army with the overgrown bushes and grass. The "Northlands Life House" is a hostel run by the Salvation Army, its objectives;

We offer a safe, supportive environment for individuals, helping them make positive choices about their current circumstances. As part of our Young Person’s contract, The Salvation Army provides support and accommodation for young people who are experiencing homelessness, across a range of services in Cardiff

There was a lot of work going on at the hostel, with upgrades to windows and doors. The bushes had been left for a while, so needed some TLC to tidy up the look. Michael was double hatted for this task, as both the run leader and the task organiser. The jobs that were on for the day were,

• Tidying the buses
• Removing ivy from walls
• Cutting back bramles
• Strimming the grass section
• Collecting the trimmings in wheelbarrows
• Running the wheelbarrows to the compost heap

The team went straight into volunteer mode, as Michael passed out the tools for the night (he even jumped in to help, in between photos). 30 hard minutes later, we looked back at the work achieved, it was a great help to see things looking tidier with just the tops of the hedges left to trim.

We even had a special goodgym bush now, after the hard work of Jonathan and Lucy to create our heart bush.

Thanks to all for coming out on these darker nights, the hostel appreciates the hard work. See you next time.