Deceived by the weather forecast

It was milder than it had been in previous days as we welcomed in Spring....and the rain!

Sam had arrived at Old Spike with plenty of time to kill until he saw Rebecca come through the door. She hadn't been to a GoodGym for months as she hibernates over winter. Yet, here she was ready to get involved with GoodGym again. She thought she picked the right night...but how we were going to be proved so wrong...

Steve came prepared for all weathers as we waited for Paulin as she cycled in from work. However, as we were starting to prepare ourselves for the run, the rain started pouring and it wouldn't stop until we finished the session.

Sam's intro speech was quick as there were no newbies and he opted to do the ice-breaker inside (due to the rain). Tonight's question was to do with the fact we are in Spring, so he asked: What Spring cleaning activity do you need to do?

Sam started off with changing all his kitchen equipment as he has things from Uni days. Rebecca said she needed to clean her bike before possibly servicing it. Steve said he has put off taking clothes donations to a charity shop, but will do so. Paulin has to sort out her life documents and letters that she gets through the post.

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When it rains, it pours

It took a lot of energy, but we forced ourselves out the door. With Sam leading the way and Paulin backmarking, they rushed with the 3k run to get out of the rain.

At the site, they met two ladies who knew Grace (our task contact) and had some association with the community garden. Also, Folarin, Ed and Magda came out to brave the rain too.

With limited tools, the team split up into a digging and transporting team:

• Folarin, Magda and Rebecca were part of "team dig" as they filled up the wheelbarrows with soil from the OK Grow! site and stayed out of the rain once they finished filling the three wheelbarrows we had.

• Sam had a map and the keys to the community garden, so he led Ed, Paulin and Steve to the community garden, which was a 5-7 minute walk from OK Grow site, but in the pouring rain. Once here, they would dump the soil in one main raised bed before filling the second one.

In total with the pouring rain and the walking distance, the team bravely managed to do 3 trips filling 10 wheelbarrows as they borrowed a spare wheelbarrow from the community garden for one trip...as the wheelbarrow had a flat tire, so made it much more difficult to transport.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! A massive thank you in fact as this was probably the first time in 4 years at GoodGym that I've dealt with that sort of weather. Kudos for being absolute troopers as it's no mean feat to work in the rain.

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Thank You Grace and the two ladies

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Grace for organising this task and for sending detailed maps, photos and videos as she couldn't be there herself, but knew what needed to be done. Also, a massive thank you to the two ladies at OK Grow (think one of them is Tracey) for opening the site and taking the wheelbarrows back.