12 Goodgym "Guys" helped build a bonfire for a fireworks party at Interact

Welcome and Warm up! We really needed a warm up tonight so made it short and sweet after our meet and greet inside the Hub. A particularly warm welcome to Deb who was visiting from Goodgym Bristol. After our short and active warm up we set off down the river to Moulsham mill and the Interact Charity garden.

An Introduction before we Interact We had a brief introduction to Interact and their works from Susie before she outlined the task and we set to work.

Bonfire Building, Kind of. After placing some fence panels and pallets on the bonfire we moved lots of wood closer to the fire so it could be added later. Then after a large pile had been build we moved it all a bit further away again!

Who Drew the short straw? We also moved some straw away from the site as this was an obvious fire hazard!

We(ed) cleared more of the area too! The team were not done, but cleared a large area of weeds from close to the fire too. these will also be burnt on Friday.

Tea, Coffee and a scenic route. We were then given a warm drink before we set off on a slightly extended run home. we chatted whilst we stretched and a reminder the Goodgym Social will be on the 18th November at the riverside inn.

It was great to see such a big turn out despite the cold, we will have some indoor tasks soon, but next week we are at Our Lady Immaculate school for more digging and other tasks in their peace garden, where the school children can have a few moments of quiet. Sign up Here

see you next week!

12 Goodgym Gardeners ran to Lawford Mead Primary School to find the lost wildlife pond

A dozen runners and a hand full of head torches run their way through the park to Lawford mead primary school to find and clear the lost wildlife pond area. When we arrived we could barely see the fenced off area around the pond, let alone the pond itself, and not just because it was dark! There were weeds and brambles everywhere, so first task was to clear a path so we could get in!

With loppers and a variety of shears we cut through to the gate and found what we nicknamed "Lawford Weed" pond, although there was very little water and a fair amount of plant!

The team worked super fast and cleared the path, the edges of the pond area and removed the aquatic plant that had drunk all the water on it's way to taking over the pond area. We found several hundred snails and 3 frogs!

As the job grew close to the finish we split into two groups and sent the main party off back to Admirals park whilst a few guys tidied up before chasing the rest back. There was really good team work making sure we all had someone to chat to on the way back, particularly important as this was a #runandtalk session in recognition of world mental health day, and we all arrived back ready for one quick hill sprint before continuing on our way back to the hub.

Don't forget to check facebook for news on our social and more fun discussion. and well done to all who came, especially the newbies!

We are off to church next week so don't forget to sign up for a run to Writtle and an indoor task.

13 of the Goodgym crew were at Chelmsford Parkrun to help celebrate our historic partnership

Goodgym Chelmsford joined 500 other runners at Chelmsford Central Parkrun this week to celebrate last weeks historic announcement from Goodgym Central. The Partnership between Parkrun and Goodgym is alive and well in Chelmsford where several members are regulars at parkrun and Race director Gerry regularly attends.

We were even included in the run report! Read it here

We were introduced at the start and had a good spread throughout the run including Michael who volunteered as a tail walker as he was running a marathon the next day! we also had a couple of runners come over and speak to us after the event about how things work so hopefully more new members!

Apryl sent her apologies for not attending as she was running a marathon but promised to wear her Goodgym tee at the event in support!

Several of us headed back to the ideas hub for some coffee and cake and talked all things goodgym. It was great to chat to the crew and think of new ideas and see if we can get more fun tasks. Looking forward to arranging more social events and getting all our goodgymmers more involved!

See you Wednesday!

15 awesome goodgym athletes went litter picking on the parkrun route.

Yet another hot evening in Chelmsford saw 15 of us, including first timers Catherin, Rachel, and Mark, set off on a task with a difference. As we are heading to Parkrun Chelmsford this week to celebrate our historic partnership sign up here we decided to make sure Chelmsford looked at it's best for the occasion.

After a brief introduction we set off to the start finish area for our warm ups. some running drills and sprints got us all going and ready for the task. We then split the route into sections and in small groups spread across the park to clear the park. After 10 minutes we regrouped for some exercises and a short relay, before setting off to the next section.

Some great arm exercises got us ready for the second relay on the "short ascent" in Admirals park. We put those arms to good use driving them up the hill and the relay did get a little competitive!

More litter picking around admirals park and we set off back to base with a fun sprint through the arches to practice our sprint finish for Saturday.

A quick stretch and a reminder that members can cheer and support each other on the website, and we were done for another group run.

Don't forget if you haven't done a Parkrun before you need to sign up on https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register so you can get your barcode and bring this with you. You can run without it but you won't be recorded. those not up for a run at 9am on a saturday there are plenty of volunteer activities you can do, or just join us for breakfast around 10.

We will be heading back to the ideas hub after parkrun to have some breakfast and chat all things Goodgym! see you next week!

Good Ditch, bad jokes

7 runners headed the 3.5k back to the Broomfield allotments to complete the ditch digging.

On another warm sunny night 7 runners including newbie Richard set off on one of our longer runs to Broomfield allotments to complete the ditch we began 2 weeks ago.

After a short warm up including our exercise of the week new feature which may continue Mountain climbers which were enjoyed by all, we set off on our run. this scenic route past the Cathedral, the University and alongside the river we arrived at the allotments raring to go. Tim was there to meet us and set out the task, which all of the team opted to get stuck in to the digging with great effect. Tim also entertained us with some jokes, although some of the team have suggested they may be busy should he chose to perform a stand up set. We maintained high spirits and worked hard to complete the task bang on time, celebrating with cold lemon squash! One the way back we added some exercises instead of adding more kilometers, and completed sets of Mountain climbers, press ups, squats and a plank, weaved into the run home. Some stretches completed the session and we all look forward to next weeks session. hope to see you there!