Under Pressure... Pushing down on slabs, pushing down dirt, to make it clean

Following parkrun, Ben and Lucy just hadn't done enough running, plus they had a mission to do! Here's the account of what they got up to on their run to help out Mrs J.

After a relatively short post Cardiff parkrun jog we arrived at the home of Mrs J. Mrs J greeted us warmly into her home. She told us that her partner of many years had suddenly, sadly past away recently and that they used to support one another with different tasks around the home and garden. She explained that getting help can be challenging and that by good luck she called the wrong number which turned out to be GoodGym. Mrs J said that her and her partner used to love the garden, spending hours of the day relaxing in it and he would often tend to patio by jet washing it to make it nice and clean again. She explained to us that she's not able to do this herself due to her own challlenges with her physical health but would really like our support making the patio look nice and new again so that she can invite guests over in the summer and enjoy the outdoors when summer arrives.

Using our running for a purpose we couldn't wait to help out Mrs J. We moved all the patio furniture to one side and set up the jet washer ready to clean the patio slabs (although the way I write this makes it sound like it all went perfectly without any hinderances, fitting the pipe attachment onto the sink tap was very much a challenge that resulted in me (Ben) getting soaked on numerous occasions.

With the jet washer set up we got straight to it! "Grime be gone!" Very quickly the patio slabs returned to their like new condition. Sooty (the cat) watched on and after one hour Mrs J brought us the most lovely cup of coffee. She spent time outside watching us jet wash and weed and she commented how lovely it looks in such a short space of time and how she's very much looking forward to spending time outside in the daytime and even the evenings.

After approximately 1 hour and a half we returned all the garden furture and potted plants back into place. The ground was stilll wet but what can you expect after 1 1/2 hours of jet washing and the weather like it is in Wales?!

Mrs J was so pleased that she had called us. She said she couldn't thank us ever for our efforts and we thanked her too for giving us a purpose to run. Feeling good we then ran off with the piece of mind that Mrs J is now going to think about the runners who helped tend to the garden/patio area and that she'll be able to spend time in it in the summer.

Would you like to take part in mission runs to help older people? If so, click here to find out more

Do you know an older person who needs a hand with one off tasks? If you do, click here to make a referral for runners to go and give them a hand