10 runners ran 5km to help sort and label donations at the Scope charity shop

A wonderful return to good-deeding in 2019 saw a merry band of 10 runners head to the Scope charity shop on Rutland Street to help move, sort and label their donations.

After thanks were given to departing Trainer Dave and everyone had shared their news from the festive period, two groups set off for Scope with Dave and Mel walking and the rest of the group taking a slightly less direct route to the task with the aim of arriving at the same time. The walkers made it there seconds ahead of the runners in a near perfectly timed commute to our destination.

On arrival we were met with the usual warm welcome from Liam who informed us we'd have a new task to complete in addition to our usual sorting of donations. We were to be let loose with the ticketing gadget (fairly sure that's the technical term for it) and asked to label up some clothes ready for the shop floor. Lindsay, revealing that she'd got experience in the industry, was immediately keen on this extra responsibility and was joined by Nicola and Jimmy in sizing up, labeling and coding the clothes. Upon realising that reading would be required for this job, Lindsay had to venture to the glasses section of the shop and as luck would have it found the perfect prescription to enable her to continue with her work in style!

Dave, Mel (while also acting as our multi-tasking photographer), Irene, Sharon, Michaela and Katy set to work lugging a number of bags of donated items up from the basement with great endeavour before getting down to the real fun part, sorting the weird and wonderful array of donated clothes into categories to make it easier for the shop staff to retrieve stock. This always creates some interesting moments as someone pulls out an item and has to consult the group to decide what on earth it actually is!

Dave donned the captain's hat, although regular model Jimmy was unfortunately upstairs when a wedding dress was discovered, meaning the photo opportunity of the night was missed. Huw's beloved size 11 stilettos (see run report from our last visit here) had not only not been sold but had also been joined by a matching pair of pink ones also in his size.

By the time we finished, a huge amount of clothes had been shifted and sorted, the labeling group had become experts in the codes for the different items in the store and we were heartily thanked by Liam for a job well done.

On the way back, Nicola joined Mel and Dave in walking directly while the rest of the group headed to New Walk, New Walk, to make a brand new (year) start of it and see who was king of the hill. Once everyone was breathing heavily from some shuttles up and down the hill we headed back to base.

A big well done to Irene who completed her 10th good deed tonight and it was great to see the black GoodGym shirts out in force from Dave and Lindsay!

A quick reminder that this Saturday is our bonus run at 11.15am meeting as usual at the DMU Leisure Centre. Regulars are more than welcome and it would be a great opportunity to introduce a friend to our wonderful group while people's good intentions for getting fit in 2019 are still fresh in their minds!

Finally, thank you to all of you for making my first run as Trainer so enjoyable. Here's to an amazing 2019 full of good deeds, running and laughter!

HD