A Big Red Box of Treats!

With a chill in the air, a massive 32 runners kept things moving as they covered around 5km and sorted and packed possibly the same distance in Big Red Boxes!

Thank you Monica for this week's title pun!

Lots of newcomers and visitors tonight, so all our Lewisham Love goes to Lya and Malcolm, GoodGym first-timers, Pier, who was filming and interviewing us for an article and Simon and Indigo, representing Big Red Box and sampling our own particular brand of running fun (I know that they are both keen runners, so they had no problem keeping up!).

As is usual now on a Monday evening, we like to celebrate the achievements of the previous week. Tonight we all stepped back and looked on in awe at the speed demon that is Conroy (once he'd removed his spooky mask. We knew it was you Conroy, you laugh with your shoulders, we don't need to see your face!). He has been working hard towards the goal of a sub-20 minute 5k for a while now and, on Friday, he did it! AMAZING!I am seriously considering naming this part of the evening 'Nykolette Time!', with our resident superwoman making a regular thing of a Sunday morning race, followed by a mission, now that is the epitome of getting fit and doing good!

News just in! It seems one of our runners quietly went about doing his 50th good deed this week! Congratulations Sean! We will miss you and your enduring support (and Gingerbread antics) over the next couple of months, but we look forward to seeing you back in the New Year wearing your black t-shirt!

With these big groups, our circle name-check is taking a while to get through, but I think I'm remembering everyone's names (give me a nudge if not!). I might have to reintroduce the name/ball game, though we might be there all night. We played a front/back/side-to-side sort of game, just for fun and then moved on to some dynamic exercises to get those cold muscles moving. A big thank you to Eva, Conroy and Rosemary for bringing up the rear as back-markers tonight, making sure nobody was left behind, a very important role here at GG Lewisham.

Human chain!

We were a bit giddy this evening, having been looking forward to this task for a while, so it didn't take us long to run over to Lee, where we were met by Alice, who told us all about the incredible work Big Red Box does in south east London, collecting donations of food at local supermarkets and sorting these into packages, to be given to families and individuals who might otherwise go without at Christmas. The collections have been happening recently and crates of food were set out, ready for us to sort. At one end we had the red boxes themselves being constructed by those nimble of hand. Along the human chain, items were picked and packed, ensuring that the box was made up of a good combination of staples and treats, these were then put onto the big trolley, which was wheeled into the next room, where the boxes were stacked.

A production line of goodness.

Alongside this corridor were rooms with more crates, which were grabbed and brought out to replenish stocks at the tables. Back and forth went tins of soup, bags of pasta and the occasional advent calendar, Christmas pudding or bag of chocolate coins. Time passed quickly and the tables started clearing, the minutes ticking away. At the beginning of the evening, Alice had told us the goal was to build and fill 60 boxes, she now informed us that we had managed...120!

We're out of custard!

Prising the last crates out of the hands of Chris and Marta, we gathered now in the box room (not that kind of box room, it's much bigger and, well, boxier) to take a group photo. Simon told us how our work this evening will contribute to the wider project and also about how the church feeds many people at a weekly feast, using funds raised by selling the Kings Christmas trees. We know it's still only October (just), but we felt a little festive and shouted 'Merry Christmas!', which prompted a chorus of 'Winter Wonderland' as we left (sorry Marta!). We will definitely be returning, so keep an eye on the website and sign up!

Next week's task is still being confirmed, but you can sign up anyway and treat yourself a to a lucky dip of good stuff. Also, as we're feeling a little Christmassy, why not sign up to our pre-Christmas race and give yourself a goal to work towards over the next few weeks? Talking of goals, as #planktober draws to a close, how about joining us for #activember? Every day in November, get out and do something active, go for a walk at lunch time, dust off your bike, go for a swim, try something new (yoga, anyone?), oh and run! Share your activities on Strava and Twitter (@GGLewisham) and encourage each other :)

Well done everyone, another task well and truly smashed!