9 Brent badasses braved the cold, for a task they were told, would bring some positivity to the Brent community.

Now to begin this tale of a Monday night in Brent, to say it was cold would be an understatement.... My people, it was FREEEEEEZZZZZIINNNGGGG

But despite the chill in air, it was awesome to be met with such a warm reception at the Queensbury. Joining the rad regulars, was new to the Brent gang, Jorge and this four language speaking, salsa dancing, winner from Wembley, we sure were happy to have join the ranks!

So after a quick hello it was 3,2,1 GOOOO Down the one mile dash to our regular task master Colin and to finish our mural of all the Goodgym hardwork in the Old Police Station, turned art hub, for the community of Willesden.

As usual Colin had lots of work to be done. but namely the continuation of our Goodgym mural, which required sketches of Goodgym related scenes, the hard work and the hilarity. So it was down to our most arty threesome to get working on that.... Liz, Nisha and Saorla, who designed and sketched our scenes onto the wall.

The rest of the gang focused on some more manual labour; shifting debrit from the last few rooms that needed painting and moving very heavy bricks and debrit outside to clear more space for artist's to work.

The really tough and strong tasks were tackled by Debs, Pete and Jorge. Who worked tirelessly and in the cold too, slinging heavy loads into Colin's van for removal. Dinesh, Nisha and I, got busy inside, moving all kinds of heavy and interesting things from one room to the next; Including a full desk and draws and some extremely heavy storage boxes.

Our efforts of course cheered on as usual by the resident cats who thought our hard work was PUUURRRRfect

After a good 45 mins of arts and slinging crafts, I had to sadly ring the final bell. But the fun didn't stop there, oh nooo!!! There was just enough time for some Hill-arity to warm up and get our fitness on, before home.

So off we flew, chugging that hill in the old school train drill, followed by tempos down to finish!! No stopping the steam from this troop of train dodgers, as each one pushed hard for a HIIT session from hell.... no wait, I mean heaven!

Farewells were next, after we'd done our best. For Brent we did task, for a worthy cause who did ask. Using our legs to travel, then hills we did battle. Now back home for some dinner, Monday night, what a winner!!

See you next time!!!

Eleven runners ran 6km to help Harlesden Town Gardens

On a dark November night, 8 runners met up at the Queensbury to set off on a 2 mile run over to Harlesden Town Gardens. We found runner Meg, and task leader Gabriel waiting for us with a welcoming bonfire already blazing steadily in the pit that GoodGym Brent runners had helped create in a previous task – great to see it being put to good use!

Dinesh and Dimple arrived shortly after the main group after having just missed us at the Queensbury, but luckily their navigation skills and nous led them to the heart of the action around the glowing fire.

We quickly formed a branch-busting bunch to saw up logs to keep the fire fuelled, and a marshmallow-skewering and toasting, sparkler-twizzling support group to keep them motivated. Claire had sadly underestimated the enthusiasm and marshmallow chomping capacity of GG Brent runners, and one pack of those fluffy sugar and gelatine clouds just wasn’t enough to go around, so Joe and Uthman saved the day by running to the corner shop to re-stock so we had enough to make smores (marshmallow and chocolate, sandwiched between two digestive biscuits, wrapped in foil and toasted in the fire, for the uninitiated!).

It’s great to see how the Town Gardens are evolving, and Gabriel told us about Friends of Harlesden Town Garden’s future plans to build a clubhouse there, here is the link if you’d like to cast a vote to support their funding bid:

https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/voting/project/view/17-4315

It was so cosy round the fire that it was hard to leave, especially after all the sugary indulgence – but somehow we managed to tear ourselves away and get back to the Queensbury again, I don’t know about everyone else, but the hills felt a bit steeper on the way back…!?

You Guys were ace, thanks for coming, great to see your faces!

It was Monday night again and time for Goodgym Bexley. Tonight we were off the DYC for our 'Odds N Sods' Good deed and run. After a chat about everyones weekend at sign up it was time for business. After a great warm up (Introduced a couple of new dynamic stretches) we started of on our 5K ish (pretty close to) run round to our friends at the Danson Youth Centre. On arrival we were greeted by Ben and two tasks for the Bexley Goodgym Crew to smash!!!! One team headed out the back for a leaf clearing, and rose bush trimming workout. Team 2 stayed round the front to sort out the leaves and trim the rose bushes there which was also a hell of a workout. We shifted 10 black bin loads of leaves, branches and rubbish, leaving the areas looking pretty awesome if i say so myself. Well done team!!..............

We shifted 10 black bin loads of leaves, branches and rubbish, leaving the areas looking pretty awesome if i say so myself

With tools all packed and a bit of sweat on our brows it was time to make the short trip back to Crooklog. Before getting together for our cool down we had to say a sad good bye to Janine who is leaving us for 3 months on a volunteering trip to Sri Lanaka. I hope they appreciate what Goodgym Bexley are letting you guys have, so make sure you look after her. Janine you are gonna be awesome, have a fantastic time. One the other hand because Janine was heading on her adventures Sarah put together some very tasty vegan cakes for the occasion which dampened the blow considerably :-)......... Thanks Sarah. Another great achievement from the weekend has to go to Peter for entering and smashing the South Western 10 miler race in Portsmouth over the weekend. Massive high 5 Peter. Last but not least thanks Neil for this weeks 'Pun'...... Goodgymers, i really hoped you enjoyed this evening and thanks for your company as always. Hope to see you all next week as we head over to Welling for some more out door gardening tasks. We gotta get them in before it gets to cold. Have an awesome week everyone.

What a brilliant evening last night. Thirteen awesome Goodgymers signed up to help Danson Youth Centre fight back their over grown bushes and hedges. As Danson Youth centre is just opposite our meet location we started running out up towards Welling then looping back to get in a nice 3K run in by the time we arrived at the youth centre. After a quick briefing on our tasks we split into two groups. One tackling the bushes on a walk way at the front and the rest of the crew tackling the leaves, hedges and planting boxes in the back gardens. What makes Bexley Goodgym evenings so awesome is the way everyone comes together to get the jobs done. The great conversations and laughs we all have, and the motivation from everyone when running in our group.

What makes Bexley Goodgym evenings so awesome is the way everyone comes together to get the jobs done. The great conversations and laughs we all have, and the motivation from everyone when running in our group.

So here is what we manage to do in such a short time. We cleared and cut back bushes that were impeding on a foot path. Clean up rubbish that had blown into the garden. Racked up a tone of leaves in the garden. Cut back bushes in the back gardens. Removed weeds and turned over the soil in two big plant boxes. The whole area basically looked brand new when we finished.

I want to welcome Deborah for joining us for the first time. i hope you enjoyed your evening, and hope to see you again next week. Big hi 5 to Neil for looking after the front runners this evening, and looking after the gang at the path tasks as i moved between the two. Much appreciated. I also but really don't want say a sad goodbye to Tanya who is moving to Brighton. Our loss is definitely going to be Brighton Goodgyms gain(look after here guys). Thanks so much for all the hard work you have put in over the months, its been a blast.

Tonights Bexley Goodgym Heroes were:- Tanya, Neil, Deborah, Sharine, Janine, Peter, Akay, Charlie, Lucy, Cheryl, Rose, Fiona and me.