Absolutely thrilled on so many counts tonight. What a wonderful evening with wonderful people.

It was brilliant to be back with Jan and the team at the Wishing Well at the George’s tonight. We haven’t been there for months, so it was lovely to be back supporting this great community organisation and venue. We had an incredible ten members there for the task tonight, it was brilliant. It’s been a while since we’ve had numbers so high, so it was absolutely wonderful to see so many lovely faces again. Tonight there was Karen, Nigel, Emily, Emma, Barry, Pam, Lauren, Kat, Alex & Me

We started off with our warmup. We were able to make a bit of a game of it this week as we had enough people to make it fun! We had two teams and did school style races. Runners either had to hopscotch, jump or skip their way to Nigel (who made a very proficient marking post - thank you Nigel). Some of the interpretations of hopscotch, jumping and skipping were a little questionable but entertaining if nothing else! I actually can’t remember which team won but it didn’t matter as we were all too busy laughing anyway!

We then split into two groups. Pam, Barry & Nigel were the walking group, while the rest of us ran. We had the absolute privilege of running King Maurice Way tonight, even though we were sadly devoid of the King himself (Maurice for anyone that doesn't know). We had a good natter as we ran and certainly got the old heart rate up.

Once we’d all come back together, we headed inside to start on our task. We had such a lovely warm welcome from Jan who got us set to work on various tasks. There were two groups of loo cleaners (one for the ladies and one for the gents) and a group of moppers for the large hall. Barry, Lauren & Alex took the gents, while Kat, Emily and I took the ladies. Karen, Nigel, Emma and Pam took the mopping. There were definitely some funny antics going on while we were busy - Kat balancing on the loo and finding various items stashed behind the pipe (we won’t say what). Emily being terrified of the resident spider…. and the hand dryer too apparently – making her jump several times lol! Over in the other loos, Barry looked like he’d been cleaning the walls with his t-shirt as it was absolutely covered in paint! We couldn’t quite figure that one out!! The hall floor was gleaming after the fabulous four had worked their magic and all in all the place was looking much cleaner and fresher once we’d applied lots of elbow grease. I think the plan is paint the loos, so at least all the prep has been done now.

A huge shout out goes to Emily tonight for coming up with this week's pun - honestly, you've saved me hours of thinking time (I'm genuinely not joking!!!). You're a star Em, thanks!!

And finally, tonight was my 100th task, which I’m sharing in here for the sole reason of letting you know how wonderfully thoughtful our Goodgym members are. I was surprised with a balloon with beautiful words on, a card with beautiful words in, a box of chocolates, a lovely bobble hat and some scrumptious Colin & Connie the Caterpillar cake. Honestly, I can’t tell you how touched I was by the thoughtfulness (even though I was a tad shy about the attention). Honestly, being part of Goodgym has transformed my life in so many ways….. for being able to support so many wonderful organisations in our community, for our fun sessions and socials but mostly for the wonderful friends it’s brought into my life. Every single one of our members is equally inspirational and valued and my life has been enriched by all of them being a part of it. So thankful for each one of you, for all that you are, for all that you do and for all that you mean to me. I love you all to bits. Here's to the next 100!!!!

All my love Nicola xxxx

4 amazing members yesterday braved freezing temperatures for a combined total of 15 hours to support the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine programme in Crewe.

Our role was to marshal the car park and guide patients as they arrived for their vaccines. As a nurse, one of our very own members, the lovely Zoe was working inside all day alongside all the other hard working staff from 3 combined GP practices administering the vaccines. They are all amazing.

As this was only the second day of administering the vaccine in the Crewe area, we witnessed some of the most vulnerable and elderly people from our community as they arrived for their injections. Some drove themselves but many arrived in taxis, with carers or with friends and neighbours.

Our job was to direct cars to one of 3 car parks, depending on mobility and arrival time. It was vital to keep track of everyone’s appointment times, making sure that cars were moved down to the lower car park with enough time to allow them to get to the entrance for their slot. Communication was key and we chatted to one another via walkie talkies. Over.

Some patients needed wheelchairs or assistance and it was our job to help with that as well as directing them into parking spaces and as there as a constant flow, we really did have to have our finger on the pulse to make sure it all ran smoothly.

It was lovely to see the eagerness of the patients to receive their vaccines and every member of staff working at the centre was so warm and friendly. One of the patients even came back after her appointment with a delivery of McDonalds hot chocolates for us!! ❤️ Such a lovely and heart warming gesture. We were really touched. What a lovely thing to do.

It really was a pleasure and privilege (in spite of the cold) to have the opportunity to get involved in such a monumental and vital task. We really hope that this marks the beginning of the end of this dreadful virus and will enable us to have some kind of normality again soon.

With the magnitude and importance of this national effort, we will be there to help for as long as is needed ❤️

Over & Out ❤️

Tonight saw 9 fabulous members back at The Lighthouse Centre. We always love being there with Pastor David and Paul.

We had an important job to do tonight and that was setting the room up ready for the Christmas Meal for the homeless members of our community. It’s a big occasion as it’s the first indoor meal since lockdown #1. The Lighthouse Centre have been serving all their meals in a takeaway style outdoors during the pandemic, so it means such a lot to be able to offer a warm sit down meal indoors (albeit in a reduced capacity to comply with covid guidelines).

We cleared the room by moving sofas, tables, chairs, boxes and bags etc to make space for the tables and seating. We covered the chairs and tables with nice cloths and decorated around the edges with tinsel to make it look festive. We hoovered and we mopped to give the room it’s final bit of sprucing up before the big event.

As the saying goes - many hands make light work - and that is always the case where GoodGym is concerned! We had a lovely night in fabulous company as always but most importantly, we have done something good to help serve our local community this evening.

Fun, fitness, friendship and feeling good!

Thanks so much for having us tonight ‘The Lighthouse Centre’. We hope everyone that comes to enjoy a meal has a lovely time ❤️❤️

Our first week back after lockdown #2 and our second task of the week! We also welcomed lovely new member, Sheila who is 80 years young! ❤️

It was brilliant to be back with the gang again as we all made our way to local charity, My CWA. My CWA supports victims of domestic violence and we’ve been working with them recently to help with sorting and organising their donations.

Tonight we did more organising of the Christmas gift donations in preparation for families coming in tomorrow. Families come to select gifts to help make Christmas that little bit brighter.

We sorted gifts, we sorted chocolates and we sorted Christmas Eve boxes. It was a lovely evening, in great company as always. It was also very touching to see the generosity of our local community.

Thanks for having us My CWA and thanks to our wonderful GoodGym members for being so fabulous as always ❤️