Nel bianco dipinto di bianco

Undeterred by the Beast from the East, seven (yes, seven) hardy souls hiked across the ice to continue painting Melvin Hall.

Thank you this week to Hannah, for our rather lovely title pun! All will make sense later in this report!

The weather reports were right for once and The Beast from the East finally hit Penge, giving us a sprinkling of pretty snow which, once trampled on, froze to ice and created an interesting challenge for our run-based activity! I kept one eye on the snow during the day and made the decision that, yes, we would continue as normal, but make our run a walk. Everyone was just fine with this, with Louise even sporting proper snow gear, including some very sensible walking boots. This week we welcomed Bradley to our group. This wasn't his first GoodGym group run, he debuted at Lewisham on Monday, but it was his first trip to GG Bromley, welcome!

I must admit, I really enjoyed the brisk - if tentative - walk down to Melvin Hall, finding it a little easier to chat than normal! On arrival, we were met by Kathy, who took us around a different way, approaching the little office from the outside. This room was painted over our last couple of visits and needed just a final touch-up (well done Kate and Louise). Kathy was pleased to tell us that this will now be used regularly by the Shaw Trust - how lovely to see our work being appreciated and put to good use!

Our task this week also saw us continue painting the corridor, with Ian demonstrating his excellent ladder skills, reaching the top bits at last! Hannah continued her work on the stairs, which looked amazing and the rest of us took on the other corridor (with Tim showing that he was most definitely a tree climber as a boy!). When we're here, I like to put on some music, usually a random playlist I find on Spotify, feelgood tunes, you know the kind of thing. This time, when I asked, Tim had a suggestion, wanting to broaden our musical horizons. On went Anne Shelton and our horizons were well and truly broadened (I don't think Louise was keen though, she's more of a Madchester kind of girl). This is where Hannah's pun comes in, with a delightful play on the lyrics of Volare (one you might recognise).

Once we had cleaned our brushes and rollers, wiped up any drips and wrapped up the sentimental disco, we had a little bit of time to work our cores. This was Kate's chance to tell us she teaches yoga and show us just how very flexible she is, I think we might be calling on you for some stretches in the future Kate! Layers back on and off we went. Last week Stuart suggested a social, since we haven't had one since Christmas. Sadly he couldn't make it this week so, minus Stuart, a few of us gathered at our start point to enjoy some very warming dinner. This was made all the more special by the fact that we were being treated by Louise and her Crystal Palace junior parkrun team, who won the pub quiz last week, with the prize being a £50 tab! Thank you all so much for your generosity, we feel very touched!

Since last night the snow has fallen heavily, so you might like to know about how you can help locally. Kathy and her team at Melvin Hall will be open today from 10am, if you want to go along and be a Snow Friend, clearing snow and gritting paths for local residents. You can find out more about this scheme on the Bromley Council website here.

See you next week, when we should be running again!