One last time for 2024, tonight we gathered at Stepney Bank Stables ready for our group run. We were really excited to have newbie Alice along for her first ever GoodGym session, and very impressed that she chose the last one of the year - she assured us it was the promise of the after-task social!

With Jack and Louise meeting us at the task, the rest of us made our way up the hill and along to Recyke where lots of tidying up jobs were waiting for us. We have been to Recyke countless times in the past but not for a few months, and returning to this brilliant huge space always feels like coming home! We had three main jobs to do: sweep out the workshop, tidy the wall of wheels and sort out the donations.

The wheel wall was one of the most challenging as it’s a tight squeeze and takes a lot of patience and manoeuvring but within no time it was expertly organised by Paula, Louise and Scott. I just wish I’d taken a “before” shot!

While Richard, Lucy and Alice swept, Max, Jack and Aimee got stuck into organising the turbo trainers and handlebars and before long the whole workshop looked clear, clean and sparkling. Another one of those jobs that takes us no time but makes a huge difference.

A much swifter walk back closed off the session- was it the fact it’s downhill or because the pub was waiting at the end?

If you want to squeeze one more good deed in, Louise is hosting another foodbank session tomorrow. Join in to ensure your place on the Nice List.

It was lovely to be back supporting our friends at Building Futures East with their East End Women’s food bank. Lucy, Max and Adam had their first visit there today - congratulations to them on finding their way to the slightly awkward location, despite me getting the What 3 Words wrong!

The East End Women’s food bank is much smaller than the other local food banks, only setting up during the first Covid lockdown, and does a fantastic job of supporting local people when they’re going through difficult times. They’re even busier than usual at this time of year, trying to make sure that everyone in the community has a decent Christmas.

Our task today was to check some Christmas food parcels and make sure that each one had all the correct items. Adam and Max began with the family boxes, Lucy tackled the couples ones and I made a start on the bags for single people. Not sure if there were more singles bags or if I was just slow but with the others joining me we managed to repack all the food parcels with ten minutes to spare! Luckily, our fantastic task owner Dawn returned from a trip to Asda with extra supplies just as we finished!

I found myself feeling quite festive and threw on some Christmas tunes to work to so the time flew by. And the best bit? We’re doing it all again next week - check out the listing on our website!

With Storm Bert bringing a bit of havoc over the weekend, we knew tonight’s task with brilliant Ouseburn Trust was in very good time. Ouseburn trust is responsible for keeping the Ouseburn area vibrant, safe and brilliant for both residents and commuters using the network of paths connecting Newcastle. We love lending them a hand, and even in the darkness of winter thanks to our trusty floodlights we are able to keep the partnership going.

Storm Bert stopping plans over the weekend was the topic of conversation when we met up tonight, forcing many of us hardy parkrunners to change, and in my case cancel, plans. I also shared plans for upcoming tasks as we head towards (whisper it!) our Christmas break.

Armed with head torches and lights and suitably layered up we headed off to meet task owner Dave for an epic tidy up session in the Ouseburn Valley. Split into two teams tonight, litter picking and maximising our step count for the day was Aimee, Damu, Max, Scott and I, while Tom and Jack got stuck into leaf sweeping with Dave. Keeping track of the group was easy enough though- just keep a look out for the head torches and you can’t go wrong! A really simple task this evening that covered a lot of ground and really made a difference.

As I missed our last social thanks to a stomach bug, a repeated visit to the Cumberland Arms followed this evening, a great chance to warm up and chat to round off an excellent start to the week.

If you’re around on Saturday morning there’s a great Urban Green Newcastle task at Leazes Park where we are getting some expert tool training as part of the session. Come and meet us any time from 10am.

Seven goodgymers helped Urban Green with bulb planting in St Lawrence Park on a crisp and damp autumn morning.

Urban Green supplied a massive bag of daffodil bulbs which when thrown over a shoulder the wearer looked a lot like an economical santa delivering the present of future flowers.

The actual task was pretty simple anyone taking a channel of a grass slope each and dig a hole for the bulb and then cover it back over. After a tea break half way though we moved on to another grass area in the park where we all took a a section and planned a strip of bulbs.

Unfortunately no before and after pictures as the daffodils will flower in the spring or possibly the one after if deep enough! Hopefully we will get to see the fruits, or flowers, of our labour then.

We are back helping Urban Green in Elswick Park the 16th of November if you want to come along and get involved!

With Half Term upon us we were a little thinner on the ground tonight, as this was also the week of the planned metro works, affecting a lot of routes in and out of Newcastle. We still got a newbie along for the session which we always love to see, give a warm welcome cheer to lovely Fiona on her first good deed.

There was a slight bit of drama at the start of the session with Stepney Bank Stables closing early and temporarily locking poor Jack inside- luckily Damu and Max witnessed this horsing around and managed to get him out before all the lights went off. Phew!

Tonight was the first Litter Pick Challenge of the autumn and after splitting into two teams we headed off to the quayside to complete our bingo boards armed with the floodlights and litter pickers. As you can see from the photos we were on the lookout for all kinds of random bits of rubbish tonight and in just 15 minutes Fiona’s team of runners were victorious. Incidentally, both teams got all of the items so I did reward everyone with a prize at the end. Overall, two bags of rubbish were collected in just 25 minutes from along the quayside on what was a calm and warm October night.

After three rounds of the leg-tappy game (technical term) to warm up, it was then time for a 3,2,1 fitness session, where everyone completed sets of walking lunges, star jumps, assisted press ups for time- expect everything to ache tomorrow!

There are two community missions listed on Sunday, and yes, it is possible to do both! We are then back at Strawberry Lane on Monday for some leaf raking to kick off November at WERS. See you soon.