Take it from me, this is how it unfolded: When GoodGym Greenwich of Bag End announced they would shortly be celebrating their weekly group run with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton, Greenwich…

The party of course was at one of our regular haunts, found along the country lanes leading out of the Shire in Greenwich, but more of that later…

We started in lovely surroundings yesterday evening, and 17 of us gathered and spoke of good things, and not of the evil EYE, and at 7pm our run leader, Alex, started with a question: In an ideal world, what would your perfect advent calendar contain? Well, fascinating and tantalising, we had chocolate brownies, a weekend away somewhere hot (well, 25 weekends to be specific), puppies (presumably and hopefully with some holes in the doors...), a portal to a better world, and everything said before and to come and all of it in-between… hmmmm.... if only GoodGym paid. Perhaps, however, my favourite was a series of photos on alternating days of friends, family, and dogs.

Still thinking of opening advent calendars, we headed to the Naval College green for a drama game warm-up, where we invoked Tolkien legend. From yee-haw to mor-dor. The Ring, the One, was suddenly amongst us, in the Shire in Greenwich (!), but none of us wanted it and we passed it on – HAVE THE RING! – and the One Ring kept moving from one to the next until – YOU SHALL NOT PASS! – and Gandalf appeared and he was actually Ian Mckellen and this is all ABSOLUTELY TRUE and then we all stopped because it was time for our – SHIRE PARTY! – and then there were fireworks in the shapes of dragons and we all cheered GOODGYMGOODGYMGOODGYM but... but... but... the One Ring was never far from temptation…

Quickly, with the One Ring still in our possession, kept secret so as not to alert any Ring Wraiths lurking somewhere nearby (probably Eltham), we started off on our adventure...

Trotting through streets well-known to us all, it wasn't long before we arrived at... More TWO TOWERS Childcare, a regular haunt for us Shire Greenwich folk. There, we were met by the lovely Eve, who let us know our list of tasks, and then we split to it. Some cleaned chairs and tables; others went up to the top of the TWO TOWERS, sorting and clearing toys, including lego-las and a trilogy of books bound in leather and containing maps and stories of legends spoken from long ago; others became handy with drills and screwdrivers and fixed things that were broken; and some swept outside with magical flying brooms (which led to some being confused about the famous popular fantasy adventure they were living).

Alongside this, Julian and I went to fix a new door with new hinges. But… Eve could not find the door, it having been misplaced. Together, inspired by some dark internal energy, we cried: We need MORE-DOOR! MORE-DOOR! MORDOR! But in the nick of time, Eve saved our souls, and led us to another door (one with hope), and we fixed that instead. Saved.

Finished, we then had our party of special magnificence – the lovely more2 team, who we’ve been visiting for years, supplied us with alcohol-free mulled wine and ginger biscuits, and plenty more biscuits which we were even allowed to take home. Thank you! This made for a perfect end to a specially magnificent evening 😊

Thanks, guys, really looking forward to the next time!