Today in solemn contemplation and hearts filled with empathy and love, 13 Goodgym runners from Brent, ran through postcodes and 2 neighbour boroughs, to give what we could and pay respect to the community, survivors and victims of Grenfell Tower.

It was a humbling sight to behold when my eyes fell upon the group I call my GG family who showed up in droves to run 5k to Grenfell. Running to pay respect and give what we could in donations and volunteering.

Lighting our route was the most beautiful of setting suns, which made us smile although our hearts were heavy and with a mission to Avenues Youth Centre on our minds, the run, despite the heat was swift if not a little sweaty.

Arriving at Avenues we were greeted so warmly by the manager Carol and even though this time their volunteer needs were already met, we did make some amazing contacts and perhaps arrange for one or two of our crew to support their future fundraising in the way of running the London marathon..... I just have to figure out how to convince the team to do it.

So turning on our heels again and catching the last of the glows of sun as it set over the beautiful canal, we head towards Latimer Road and the main memorial sight for Grenfell.

Now I am not littering this run report with catchy puns and tom foolery because this was so not what this run was about. We were in solidarity, in mourning and in partnership with every other human being who was and have been there, making the effort, yesterday, today and tomorrow!

In fact, just speaking with the community we understood that they would continue to need massive support for the next few weeks, if not more, especially when the media attentions will surely begin to ease off and they don't want people to forget the need that will be there. So people must continue to reach out for many weeks and months to come.

So with this in mind, we linked up with Sister Ruth, the incredible community leader who was taking charge of organisations, from the church on Latimer Road. We pledged to be back, both as individuals and as a team, because this may not be our borough, but this is our London and we must erase borough lines and postcodes, to show unity, love and understanding. To give back to this significant and life altering community cause and demonstrate we will not stand for how these people have been treated. It must be talked about, it mustn't be forgotten and it cannot happen again!

Our final goodbye was in a song, shared with some of the other mourners and Sister Ruth. We sang together Amazing Grace and as we sang, we lit our candles and said personal and quiet prayers, for all who had been lost and for all those suffering now from this terrible tragedy.

I urge you if you haven't, please go there, because no news article or TV broadcast can convey the true heartbreak of this community in mourning.

Together we stand.

Wow wow wow. Women of the world did unite on this fine night in Willesdens heart, for an awesome community task! Pow Pow

It was all smiles and sunshine in the midst of a gloriously nearly Indian summer-like day in London. No complaints here, even though it was rather humid, as double digits of my brilliant Brent beauties from all Corners of the globe, rocked up to support the community town team for the second to last Monday in may.

Flame haired lovely Jenny joined me first, who was new to the crew and we welcomed her joyfully with open arms!! shortly after we were joined by always lovely Liz fresh from weekend bridesmaid duties, double double trouble family fun with sister sledge and the Italiano sisters Awesome Amy making the most of the heat wave and dressed for a rave, planking and lightening bolt leggings queen Sadhana and last but not least everyone's favourite Mouse in the House.

So after housekeeping and shares, we wasted not one care and alive and kickin, set out on our mission.

Hot to trot and not half a mile away, the task awaited us in the form of community goodness sprinkler Colin and his glorious crew of merry men, little did they know they were soon to be joined by the equally if not more merry and definitely stronger wonder women from Goodgym Brent!

As we powered down the high road our red tees flashed past locals like lightening bolts crashing through the clouds. And what a joy it was to bear witness to the crowds of head turners who smiled with glee and cheered us on!

Ello ello ello... Arriving in no time at all, we reached our destination for the eve - The Old Police Station and tasking for a Willesden Town Team!!! Yay!

What was once the dominant presence of the local police station, standing all proud with its Victorian bricks in the heart of Willesden since 1801, had been left an abandoned ruin for many a year, in a wanted state of repair. Recently being relinquished as home to squatters, graffiti bandits and litter droppers, the local community had rallied together to take back ownership and begin working on the creation of community hub which will eventually become home to local businesses, hot desks, a community cafe and much much more in the view to bring the good people of this area together in one lovely and lively central community hub. How marvellous!!

So upon arrival Colin gave us the tour and creeping around in an original Victorian prison Cell we were found. Led on further by our very own brave mouse, who wasn't scared by resident cats in the house. Meeooowww.

After the grand tour it was time to get down to work and there was plenty of it let me tell you! Planting and making beautiful the gardens at the front. Shovelling and disposing of exploded soil bags in the main grounds and muchos lifting and shifting of mega heavy wooden panels and sheets of metal. Eliza in particular proving that size and gender means absolutely nothing when it comes to strength and determination because this superwoman held her own with the heaviest piece of metal known to man of womankind!! Even having enough energy to skateboard after the efforts lol!!

While the girls worked tirelessly for 60mins, never once were they distracted..... hummm okay we did laugh our way through most of the task, finding peculiar objects in the grass (the weird exploded foam finger to name one a Sadhana and I finding this most amusing) we planned our summer Brent shindig and discussed the pros and cons of racing in heat!

Before I knew it a time check brought us > crashing down to reality - end of play on this fine day. But we couldn't have tried more, with these plentiful chores!

Saying a quick and fond farewell to the community crew, we booked in our next visit without further a do. and like the lightening bolts once again we blitzed down the road for one final sprint back to base camp, arriving back at the joyful hubbub of the Queensbury our home from home !

What a fabulous evening, well worth the time spent, getting fit, having fun and giving back to the wonderful community of Brent.

See you next time!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE.

Well it all dried up nicely for our Monday Goodgym in Bexley. Tonight we focused on our running techniques, building our fitness, having fun, and meeting new Goodgymers. And meeting new Goodgymers is what we did. A massive hi5 goes to Sara and Emma welcome to Goodgym Bexley., we hope you loved it. Basecamp Crooklog was virtually empty so we had most the area to ourselves. Having all levels of runners this week, we split up into two teams. One doing a longer loop, with Eileen leading (thanks so much) and one team doing a shorter loop. Thanks Caz for looking after our back group. The beautiful thing about this weeks run is both groups could push to their full potential and no one would be left behind.

There's no better feeling than heading out on to the road with all those Goodgym tee shirts on display, it just feels brilliant.

On heading back into basecamp Crooklog, smiles were a many so we headed strainght into fitness mode. It was time to introduce everyone to burpees 😁 I'm a true believer that fitness should be hard work but real fun and that was the order of this evening. We split into two teams and suddenly it was pure rivalry, all love had disappeared, no team wanted to lose, no team wanted the losers punishment. At tonight's fitness session every part of the body was worked, and worked hard, but guess what, there always has to be a losing team.

I am glad to report it all ended pleasantly, with massive smiles, lots of laughs, and friendly hand shakes.

Well it was that time again, the time where we all go our separate ways, but with the promise of all coming back next week and doing it all again. See ya next week Goodgymers! We've got an awesome task for an awesome community charity.

On the last Monday of the month, GG Brent tackled timber, banished branches, cropped & chopped, then hopped their way to a tasty 6k. All in a days work for the West London tribe. That's definitely what I'd call a Grandville day out POW POW

What a happy GG leader I was to be greeted by the always smiling faces of my delicious gang of Brent beauties this Monday night and can you Adam and Eve it, this week we had not one, not two but three brilliant boys YAYYYYYYY.

Even, the threat of an impending down-pour, was still no deterrent for my fierce force of favourites as we laced up and braced ourselves for the wet and wild whisk over to Carlton Vale for our goodgym antics for the night.

However, to our delight, as we stepped outside base camp, the skies had cleared and a lovely sunset was all that guided us the 2 mile jaunt over to south Kilburn for our terrific task for the night - The chop and pop operation of the Granville Community sites gardens!

So what was it all about then, I hear you cry???? Well, Grandville is this amazing centre, that serves the local community in so many ways. Believing that everyone no matter circumstance has the right to fresh, good quality, nutritious food, they serve their patrons via their community allotments, community cooking nights, classes and feasts and school education programmes. Food for though wouldn't you say

Upon arrival our fantastic host Leslie explained the deeds we had in store for our 45min blast and let me tell you, there were plenty!! The strenuous task of yanking out dead tree roots, the sawing and chopping out of control bushes and the ever so yucky stamping down of the compost Debs and I got our hands dirty with this one. *NICE***

Without further-a-do, the team set to work with magical momentum, wasting no time at all and grabbing all the tools that Leslie could throw at us. Special credit must go to Sam, who with his own bear hands yanked out not one but two massive tree roots, which was no easy Roots Manoeuvre I can tell you!

As the time etched away the team cracked on, with Sean and Dan sawing their way through the devilish nasties of the blackberry spikes. Laura, Sam and Amy the dream Yank and Pull team and Enrique, Debs and Myself busying ourselves with the clear up and stack jobs leftover, but of course not leaving out time for tom-foolery in the bushes!!! Standard antics And after a genuine back-breaking 40mins, the clear up and clear out was upon us and out the gates we did boost, wishing our hosts a fond farewell, with our echoes of See you sooonnnn singing in the air.

I think it's safe to say we we came, we tasked and we conquered that garden (for this week anyway) but there is plenty more work to be done, so we will most definitely be back. Not only to get our revenge on the Blackberry branches, who managed to give me personally one final leg jab on the way out!! OUCH

So with 2 miles left to dash, the team set to running and funning all the way home and with more boys in the mix this week, the boisterousness banter was upped a level, with Enrique and Sam chasing and racing each other all the way home!!

Not wet Hurrah but most definitely wild, thank you team for yet another wonderfully, weird and fun filled week in Brent!

See you next time!!!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

Well, maybe not the town but an inside shop wall to help Greenwich & Bexley Hospice get there shop refurbishment a step forward. This week I was so pleased to have three new faces on our run and task. Welcome Mavis, Jane and Caz, I really hope you enjoyed yourselves. We certainly enjoyed having you. After signing in we went into our mandatory pre-run chat and warmup. Well done Fidellis for winning the prize of 10 star jumps In our favourite car competition. Serves you right for having expensive tastes 😂. On warming up (remember we warm up to run, not run to warm up) we headed out of base camp Crooklog and straight up towards Welling. There's something quite satisfying about running and dodging commuters as they head home and we head to do our good deed. On arrival we were greeted with smiling faces and refreshing water, thanks Mandy. It's at this point we go from runners to good deeders and got stuck straight in to the task. With a team cutting in and a team rolling , the hardest part for me was stopping the guys painting my beard whiter then what it all ready is. Little did they know pay back would be on our run home. <Little did they know pay back would be on the run home
With the gang doing a brilliant job it was left to our tallest member Fidellis to finish off all the areas at the top. After admiring our professional workman ship and posing for photo's (think we're getting pretty good at that) it was time to say our good byes and head back to base camp Crooklog. With this weeks runners being of all abilities we set a meet up point at Welling Football Club for our first fitness drill. Thanks Eilleen and Janine for looking after the front group, you guys were brilliant as always. As we arrived at Welling FC, pay back for the attempted beard painting was due and it started in the form of wall squats, ouch!! <As we arrived at Welling FC, pay back for the attempted beard painting was due. After a competitive sit off ** we were off again and to **my delight soon came across perfect walls for my wall press ups and tricep dip drills. Payment was due, and the debt was going to be paid in full 😂 After doing our bingo wing destroying exercises it was just a short run back to Crooklog for our cool down and natter on how it all went. Bexley Goodgymers you were brilliant as always. I really enjoyed your company and can't wait to do it all again next week.............. Last but not least Happy Birthday Tanya hope you had an awesome day 🎉