9 ran to interact to help with the wildlife garden

The team met once again at the ideas hub and were pleased to welcome Sue who whilst new to us had been well trained by Angela in Colchester, so slotted in to both the group and the task with great energy.

We had a last minute change of plan so were pleased to be able to help out our friends at the Interact charity at Moulsham mill. Susie told us about the great work they do with young adults with learning difficulties and then set us to work, clearing branches from some planters and digging the path in the wildlife garden. The planters were then filled with the earth we had dug, ready for planting at the first signs of spring!

A great effort by everyone ment we filled 2 of the 3 remaining planters and moved some earth to help level the ground at the back.

We paused briefly for water and biscuits (although I think I ate the most again) and set off on an extended route back, because digging is not hard enough for this crew!

Back at the hub we discussed some exciting up coming projects and the weekends races whilst we stretched. Good luck to those doing Colchester half Marathon this weekend and of course Parkrun!

Catch you all next week!

14 run to Cheviot nursing home to clear more leaves It was a crisp cold November evening, and having returned from the Cyprus International 4 day challenge the night before, I really felt the cold! (Who am I kidding, I always feel the cold, even in August!).

Still, merry enthusiastic goodgymers met at LeisureWorld for our usual Wednesday evening do-gooding. Tav finally had his t-shirt. And Deb joined us from Goodgym Bristol! She's on tour, and this run was her 50th Good deed, so well done Deb, and you're welcome to come back anytime.

As it was so cold, warming up was mega-important, and we even did our counting off whilst doing some squats to make sure we didn't get cold.

Then we made our way to Cheviot, making sure to give Deb and Emily the benefit of our knowledge of Colchester. I even stopped at the top of Balkerne hill to tell them about the Jumbo water tower - this wasn't because I was tired at the top of the hill, or because it was named after an elephant... honest!

Off to the nursing home, and I was glad that the runners knew exactly what they were doing having cleared leaves for St Leonard's church last week. David found a fantastic contraption for picking up leaves and the task was completed very quickly. Eventually everyone had to move out to the car park, as the most leaves were there, and the work was going along great until a van drove in and scattered one of our piles!

This didn't dampen the spirits of our group though, and these leaves were raked up, put in bags and then we were all done. 7 bags of leaves collected.

This run was an extra special treat for us, as to thank us for our work, the nursing staff left us some cakes and tea and coffee - we felt like lots of Santa's helpers as we munched on mince pies and biscuits, and the hot coffee was certainly welcome after being outside in the freezing temperatures. We couldn't stay for too long though, we had our social to get to.

So, we made our way back through Lexden, and to the Essex County Hospital, and here is where we split our group. Some went back to Leisure World, and the rest of us went to our new favourite pub the Old New Inn. Thank's again to Ian for arranging our social.

Next week, we will be doing a bit more wombling for Rivercare. Make sure you wrap up warm, with gloves and headtorches. Sign up here

It's another Wednesday thankfully which can only mean one thing-GoodGym !

We met as usual at Leisure World and were joined by new member Emily.

Welcome to her and we hope she enjoys many evenings with GoodGym in the future.

This was the first time our beloved leader Angela wasn't there since we started back in August,but I'm sure we can forgive her just this once...

Would it be a case of while the cats away the mice would play......?

She was replaced(if that's possible) by Axel from GoodGym HQ and after a brief warm up the 15 wonderful GoodGym people headed to St Leonard's church in Lexden.

We went through the Kings Meadow,then up Balkerne Hill(a chance to practice our hill technique),along Crouch Street and then along Lexden Road which I think is one of the best roads to run on in Colchester as you can get a decent pace up , has a nice wide path for a group to run on and is well lit.

We arrived at the task after a enjoyable run .We were ready for the evenings task of leaf clearing.

During the task there was the usual banter(some directed at Tommy but we all love you really Tommy!) and chat.We had Tommy running up and down the hill to empty the sacks of leaves,trying to get him to go quicker every time.

Everyone worked hard while we were there and in no time we'd made a massive improvement to the path leading up to the church.

The church in question is a special place for Angela & David as it's where they were married.

On a personal note it is for me too as my Dad's ashes are interred in the Garden of Rest at the back of the churchyard.

After the task we ran back to base via the same route we came on with different groups setting off at different times.

Well I same the same route as I understand Tommys group were briefly heading towards Stanway !

We all arrived back at base for the usual warm down .

Thank you to Axel for looking after us tonight.

Another excellent evening of GoodGym.Well done to everyone.

Looking forward to next Wednesday evening mafter which we will be having our monthly social at the New Inn.

Ian Bown

15 goodgymers run 10k delivering posters and fliers for CoHoC

This week we had a sequel. Like any good movie sequel, it was bigger, better, longer faster with more special effects. No seriously, the firework going off just as I got to the turning off Ipswich Road was really a special effect I hadn't bargained for!

Tonight we welcomed 6 new runners from the Emmaus community. Because of some task jiggling, what would have been a shorter run on the 2nd November actually became our longest run to date, but that didn't detract them, and there was the usual chatter and anticipation as we set off on our run.

Because it was a long run and relatively short task, the fitness session took place on the run, and Angela explained an uphill running technique at the base of Ipswich road which will become key for those planning on doing Colchester Half Marathon Sign up here

Ian was so excited about this new technique as it made running up Ipswich road a breeze, and he will definitely be using it going forward.

We got to The Crescent to deliver the posters, and unlike last week, some businesses were still open so we could go in and tell them about the Santa run as well. Once the posters were delivered, we said good bye to Sue and Helen, (as they had already run from Severall's to meet us at Leisure World - they did the run in reverse), and made our way back to Leisure world.

This time we ran via Mill Road and Northern Approach, and Angela managed to even include a jungle adventure detour on what most thought was a completely residential route.

We made our way back to Leisure World for a stretch and debrief, and Angela reminded the runners about the DBS Doc Check Party taking place at parkrun this week You must sign up if you intend for your docs to be checked.

Next week, we'll be returning for some Wombling for Rivercare - Sign up here - Make sure you bring your gloves and headtorches!

Run Report written by Angela Isherwood

For this week's run we returned to one of our regulars, the Salvation army in Camberwell.

After a quick warm up outside the Roastery, Helena led the way up Chadwick Road. On the way down Camberwell Grove there was plenty of chat, almost all Great British Bake Off related. Once we arrived at the Salvation Army we were greeted by Janet who told us that there had been a bumper turnout at their recent anniversary celebration, thanks in part to the flyering that we had done on our last visit. This visit was all about the kitchen, the whole place needed a good clean. A low ceiling and Matt's height advantage meant that he was tasked with trying to get rid of the grease and grime from up high while others cleaned shelves, the floor, the hob and any other surface we could reach. While we cleaned we had a serious chat about organ donation before returning to the topic of TV. Most of us had been enjoying the sheer incompetence of the Apprentice candidates but only Beth and Hanna had fallen a little bit in love with Married At First Sight.

Janet has a habit of treating us with sweets when we go to visit but this week had decided we needed something healthy so had some seeds for us to nibble on. After some gentle persuasion she did produce some sweets but she wasn't convinced they had any real sugar in them.

On the way home we Indian filed back up the hill and once back at the Roastery didn't hang about as we were all keen to get home and watch the bake off semi-final.

On the sweatiest of summer nights, 10 runners assembled to flyer for the Salvation Army running 8.5km.

The joy of summer meant that this Wednesday night was pretty muggy but very pretty. We assembled at our usual place with the scent of roasted coffee.

feeling pretty roasted ourselves

The hill to the Salvation Army is a sneaky one that doesn't look so bad but we all made it up despite being pretty sweat-laden. The lovely Janet met us with a very welcome jug of squash and told us about the event we were flyering for. On Saturday 10th September, it's the 135th birthday of the Camberwell Salvation Army and there is a family party for the community to enjoy. So we split off into teams after a briefing for flyering and being safe whilst out and about in Camberwell.

We came across lots of blocks of flats, higgle-di-piggledy staircases and some friendly locals wanting to know about the event.

After we delivered the majority of the leaflets, we utilised the car park at the Salvation Army to play the famous GoodGym Islington game

Cups and Cones

For those not familiar, this involves cups and two teams named cups and cones respectively. Cups upside down are cones. The winner after a set amount of time of turning cups/cones around and around are those with the most of their namesake. Some dubious tactics of attempted hidings and a lot of chasing and time was up.

Congratulations to team cone! The battle is won but the war has just begun.

We still had a hill to conquer for the journey home so to push each other through, we Indian filed up it at jogging pace with the back person sprinting up to the front. The hill was soon over. An amble home including a 60s plank and we just about beat the black clouds and looming thunder shower.

Superb effort on a very hot night from everyone.

Fingers crossed for no rain during the bbq at Grove Park next Wednesday. See you there!