I Wanna Really, Really, Really Wanna DIGaDIG, ah!

There was huge excitement at GoodGym Swindon tonight when we met our newest supporter, Baby Nora, who is just three days old. All together now – aaaaaahhhhh! Proudly wearing her GoodGym emblazoned outfit, Nora happily slept through being cooed over by us all. It looks like fourth time Daddy Andrew will never be short of babysitters, especially with Emma the Trainer and Kirsty’s top notch baby cuddling skills. Welcome to the GoodGym Swindon Family, Nora 💓.

Baby snuggles over, we gathered for our traditional welcome and get to know you session, revealing more of our deepest, darkest secrets. What better way to get to know someone than through hearing about the most embarrassing music that they own? Tonight we were joined by two newbies and Dave fessing up to the Spice Girls caused a raised eyebrow from Hannah. Fortunately, further interrogation was avoided by shouts of “who?” when Helen not only mentioned Lena Zavaroni, but also gave us a tuneful rendition of (what we believe to be) one of Lena’s greatest hits. The hidden talents of GoodGymers!

By this time, the dark grey clouds over Swindon had lifted and we set off in the sunshine for a chatty run to Prince Rupert Court, which provides supported housing for older people. We visited in March and the residents were so impressed by what we did, they asked us to go back! It was great to see what a difference our help had made and how the residents are now able to enjoy the garden more than before. Dominique set us to work weeding and hedge clearing, under the careful supervision of the residents who were enjoying the evening sun and making sure our work was up to scratch. We dug, chopped and raked, discovering long lost roses and other plants that even Jo, our designated (but not very expert) gardener failed to identify. It seemed that Gina had earlier invoked the spirit of Tom Jones, with Charles even unearthing a What’s new pussy cat? model cat! And we are pleased to report that our very own Uri Geller, Lily, gave her tool-bending superpowers a rest for the evening and we got to the end of the task without any tool CATastrophes!

And with that, it was meow time for cake – freshly baked by Alethia, who delivered still warm banana cake and a gluten-free lemon drizzle cake. These were quickly devoured – and even Sam, who is in constant calorie deficit due to her ultra training, was quite restrained and didn’t fill her pockets for a snack on the run back to the Oasis!

All too quickly, that was the Group Run and our contribution to #VolunteersWeek in the bag. There's another chance to put those gardening skills to good use next week as we head to Ferndale School. This task is walkable and weed love to see you there. You can sign up here!