Branksome Community Centre is a busy hub of activites inside and out!

We had been pre lockdown and Nigel, the centre manager, was happy to have us back to help with the upkeep of the building.

We arrived at 6.30pm and John was there ready to meet us. We found out during the task that John has made a lot of changes in his life over the past year, giving up smoking, alcohol, going on a plant based diet and now a regular runner! We hope that John will join us one day at Goodgym as a great match for what we stand for!

Christine had ran from home as well as Zoe who was returning for the second time (yeah!). Sean cycled down from home so kudus to you all for being active before you even started!

John had arranged everything so we could get on and work! We had chairs to wash down, barriers to clean, windows to make shiny and litter to pick.

Patricia and Esther tackled the chairs with Christine whilst Zoe and Robert made short work of the barriers!

Sean was fast to grab a broom and get cracking on the inside corridor whilst Hannah was suddenly seen scaling a ladder with a focus to get those windows cleaned!

John gave a hand and did some litter picking so we then had time to sweep up around the entrance areas with plenty of debris from the trees.

Lots of children were still playing in the park as we arrived and as it got darker, young people started hanging around the centre. There was a martial arts class due to start shortly and we were even invited to a healing dance by a instructor who brought up dark chocolate! (We were intrigued!)

Great to have heaps of banter as we worked - Sean I fear took the most of this, especially if he took a break from sweeping! :)

Following the task - all minus Sean so a safe number of 6, we took a lap around the rec ground before Pat and Christine peeled off to their home routes. We joined Zoe as she headed home so we could do a few more miles - only one include a hill to increase the heart rate so it was pretty gentle! Hannah, Rob and myself - We all headed out to complete a full 5k loop as a good endurance pace (that means we could still keep chatting!) before heading off home!

We will be back to Branksome soon - John has hinted we can help with painting (always a favourite!) so all good!

Well done everyone!