A crack team of determined GoodGymers overcame adversity to clear two bags of litter from the streets of Chelmsford.

Richard braved a squeam-inducing injury he sustained a few days earlier, Fay shook off illness and Jen battled through traffic to join the group.

The runners met Fay by the river where we started our litter picking duties.

As the night got colder and darker, Jane and Andy made everyone jealous with plans for breaks in warmer climes, while Martin wondered if there were any GoodGym groups in Scotland. Apparently not.

After finding the south of the river surprisingly tidy, the group crossed a bridge so new that it doesn’t appear on Google Maps’ satellite view and struck litter gold around the Meadows car park, with cans and bottles carefully extracted from hedges.

Good work everyone!

It was an overcast but surprisingly warm evening as Jane and I set off from HQ to meet Jen and Laurie at meadow view cottage.

Tonights task was to paint some planters for Hearing Help Essex as they were in need of some TLC.

Sarah was there to greet us and provide us with brushes and paint ( as well as a much needed drink for Laurie). We set to task we abundance and chatted pretty much the whole time until it was dark. N.B, time to get those headtorches out and check the batteries for the evening runs, its starting to get dark again 😢

Saying our goodbyes, Jen and Laurie set-off homeward bounds and did Jane and I. Great work guys, the planters looked great after a lick of paint and cant wait to see them full of flowers and plants.

Next week is our last walk and talk with the ideas hub and Martin (good) will be your run leader.....

until then

RUN HAPPY

Rich

I jogged to the location and met D, who had all the garden tools I'd need out ready. D has reduced mobility and was unable to safely access her washing line as the garden path was very overgrown. It was very satifying to cut back all the thistles and ivy: the sun was shining, and my work was supervised by a robin who kept coming down to see what I was up to. D was pleased with the result and said she would now be able to use her washing line again.

Rain all day stopped play at the church where some painting was needed. We met at the gym hoping the clouds wouldn't follow through with any more of the wet stuff and set off for a pre-litter picking jog.

Andy explained he was picker extraordinaire after his festival volunteering at the weekend, which Jane watched with home comforts although I do understand you could buy a ticket for your chair if you wanted to bring it with you.

Sallyann proved she should have been a hostage negotiator after getting exactly what she wanted for upcoming retirement. Maybe it's not too late to retrain. Leah didn't let the chain link fence stand in her way and aggressively retrieved junk that people were clearly tossing into difficult spaces for fun (why?!).

Fay will be available for any eligible bachelors to try on the abandoned flipflop over the weekend but I'm not sure that it will guarantee a marriage proposal, possibly some Marriage's animal feed given the location.

The bees are to raise money for Farleigh Hospice, and also look wicked cool throughout Chelmsford.

Five GG legends managed to tackle all 37 bees. Richard Walker was so close yet did not succeed.

Then the prize draw! I managed to win the £100 cash prize and Rachel managed to win the mystery prize. she will collect at her next GG session!

Well done everyone and any more runs like this we could do, let us know!