Excitement levels were high as we gathered, in the rain again, ready for our third visit to Prince Rupert Court. We love visiting the residents here but tonight we were looking forward to it even more than usual as it was an indoor task – even though most of us prefer running in the rain to hot weather. We might test this again in a few months’ time!

Simon led us off towards West Swindon. With a couple of small detours for dedicated Beat the Street superfan Emma the Trainer, we soon arrived at Prince Rupert Court to be greeted by Dominique and some of our GoodGym gang, Jason, Teresa, Kay and Alethia, who (as usual) was laden down with freshly baked cake! Prince Rupert Court provides housing with support for residents aged 55+ years who may have physical disabilities. We are always made really welcome and enjoy visiting our friends there. But friendship had to be put to one side as tonight it was the big event...

the Clash of The Titans, a battle to rival Rumble in the Jungle!

...as we lined up for GoodGym vs Prince Rupert Court at Just Bowl. Just Bowl is a fun, easy to play (more on that later), form of bowls that has been developed to take bowls into care homes, rehabilitation centres, leisure facilities, educational establishments, and community settings. Playing Just Bowl has been shown to benefit physical and mental health, with participants reporting that they feel less isolated, and have improved mobility and balance. There was a 10 week trial set up in February at Prince Rupert Court, and it’s now a popular weekly event. We heard from Dominque that each Thursday night 15 of the residents gather to play Just Bowl, with some strict rules set down. No talking, no heckling, no mobile phones, no swearing…this is serious stuff!

We divided into two teams, with some of the GoodGym members switching allegiance to Team Prince Rupert Court to even up the numbers. They definitely made a wise choice as some of the early efforts from Team GoodGym lacked a certain amount of finesse – this game was harder than it looked! Having been assured by Dominque that everyone would make a score, we soon proved that wrong! So much for “easy to play”! It was an easy victory for Team Prince Rupert Court – would we fare any better in game two when we would all bowl with our less dominant hand? It turned out that this was slightly better for GoodGym – with a narrow 50 point victory. It could have been a lot more if we’d used Teresa’s scoring system!

After all that exertion, it was time to take a break for a cuppa and cake. Stuart did a fine impression of Mrs Overall, pushing the tea trolley along and we all settled in for a good natter. All too soon, it was time to leave – but not without plans being drawn up for a return visit soon. Simon gathered us all up for the return to the Oasis, to the sound of fireworks being set off all over Swindon. It’s just as well we had the (self-declared) Paul ‘Burly’ Bonner as our bodyguard! Your weekly reminder to be careful what you say in earshot of the run report writer!

There’s lots more GoodGym fun coming up:

Next week, we have a walkable task to paint cycle storage containers – you can sign up here.

If you haven’t got a place in the Swindon 10K on 17 November, why not join the GoodGym cheer squad? Let’s turn Swindon red again!

And sign up for our “it’s not Christmas yet” Christmas party on 23 November – an afternoon of delicious food and good company awaits!

As with most other GoodGym areas this week, it would seem the elements were against us! Epic thunder and lightening, flash flooding and traffic gridlock across Swindon were all colliding and conspiring to keep us away. We have been in conversation with GoodGym central about trialling a double points bounty when the weather reaches tempest levels – what do you think?! However, our skin is waterproof and we have legs, so off we popped to Age UK Wiltshire for a return visit to their new(ish) home at Toothill Community Centre.

This week the runners had the absolute delight of being sandwiched between Run Leader Richard the Rector and Backmarker Stuart. Lucky runners! And this week’s paparazzi duties fell to Helen.

Last time we visited, “Team Frosting” and “Team Scrambled Egg” helped to transform windows and walls inside the centre. This time we were tackling the outside space, clearing weeds and brambles. Lots of girly squeals could be heard – those brambles hurt a lot – and we hope we didn’t alarm any local residents with the noise! We trimmed, cut, swept and scooped until there was no more trimming, cutting, sweeping, scooping left to do. Except for the high up hard to reach bits, whereupon Safety First Simon absolutely did not breach any safety regulations. Nope. None at all. Nothing to see here

Richard the Rector then declared it was time to head inside. Hurrah! The centre has been beautifully decorated and in the new café area was the very apt message that “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain”. We didn’t do much dancing – except when we were attacked by the brambles - but we did have a lovely chatty time achieving our “Goodness Goals” as Age UK Wiltshire put it! With the task done we were treated to tea and cupcakes.

Chatter this week included travels of next week to Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Everest Base Camp and Transylvania! Will everyone remember to pack their GoodGym t-shirts? Will we see some GoodGym on tour holiday snaps?

Does “Strava Palaver” still happen when you’re overseas? Stay tuned to find out!

It was soon time for the runners to head off back into the darkness while a few of us stayed for more chat, and were soon kindly asked to leave as it was time to lock up! Age UK Wiltshire have made such a lovely cosy space for the locals we don’t know why anyone would want to leave! Thanks for having us.

Next up we will be running approximately 4km in total to Margaret Matthews Court in Rodbourne to help with a gardening task. This promises to be a very special task – we absolutely loved our last visit here and getting to meet the delightful residents who are sure to distract us from the job in hand! Margaret Matthews Court provides sheltered accommodation for older people and they need some more help tidying up their garden area. So don't delay - sign up here today!

Tonight’s merry band were led by Safety First Simon on his first outing as Run Leader. We were under strict instructions not to heckle, wolf whistle or get up to anything that could be counted as mischevious. The temptation was almost too much! Tonight’s ice breaker was a question about our most embarrassing childhood memories. This was a most revealing question. In her youth Ashleigh ate a worm (plenty more opportunity for that in tonight’s gardening task!), and Charles was still getting over being made to wear those gloves that are attached together with string. Lucky that none of our GoodGym gloves have string although it would solve the conumdrum of lefts paired with lefts and rights with rights!!!

On day two of Autumn and with sunset due at exactly 18.59pm, tonight saw the return of the much loved chest lamp. Yay! GoodGymers who don’t have one are advised to bring one in the darker nights. They are super useful for safety on the run and the outside tasks, and also the flashy setting means we can have our own disco whenever the mood takes us. “Staying Alive” in more ways than one!

Tonight we had walkie talkies and runners, the latter not really up for more than a gentle(ish) jog. Post-race chat had included inventive ways GoodGymers had found to move about with hurty bits...

They had been self-named as “the crab”, “the bum shuffle” and the “John Wayne”.

We’ll leave it to your imaginations to picture what these look like in practice but there was none of that tonight and we all made it up the very steep hill to “The Old Lady on the Hill”.

This was a return visit for us to the town’s much loved Christ Church and we continued the weeding in the Rose Garden. Despite the rain and the chill in the air, this was a tranquil and rewarding task as the roses are intermingled with many remembrance plaques. Clearing the weeds means that those visiting can more easily see the plaques and mementos of loved ones. It’s great to see the difference that 32 hands can make in 45 minutes! In the end there were lots of wet and muddy shoes, knees and bums. Luckily it was very dark on the way back so as not to raise curious eyebrows!

We arrived back to the warm glow of the Oasis, after a much needed (and very professionally led by Simon, we must say!) stretching session. Inside and during coffee and chatter, a rather disturbing scene unfolded...

There was an interloper of the most heinous kind – a snail on Mike’s jacket that had hitched a ride from the rose garden!

Mollusc Lover Mike’s snail was quite unbelievably left to lounge around on the hood of his jacket for the duration (while some of us silently broke out in cold sweats) and the new friends casually left together at the end. Hopefully this will be the last instalment of mollusc mayhem – will it ever end? - and next week there are only plus ones of the human kind!

Next up, we will be running approximately 7km in total to Age UK Wiltshire to help with their improvements to Toothill Community Centre. We’ll be doing some gardening outside the centre. There is lots to do, so rest assured you will be busy! You don't need to be a green fingered expert, just enthusiastic and keen to help out. This is our third visit to the centre and we are very excited to be going back there again! You can sign up here