A special run, this one - a magical mystery tour of the locations that made up the first ever group run and the first ever coach run - from over 16 years ago (💾 📼 📟)!

Why? Well, to bid farewell to a special guy. He's tall, he's pale, he's handsome, he has an OBE. It's goodgym's founder Ivo Gormley. Many words were said about this man at the leaving party after the run, at the beautiful Calthorpe Community Garden, so we are not going to attempt to do him justice here. But the fact that a group of otherwise strangers, all wearing their red and black uniforms with pride, were gathered on the steps of York Hall (can you use their toilet? NO) a full sixteen years after the first group of otherwise strangers gathered on the steps of York Hall, to run around and help some people, has to mean something about how powerful and enduring Ivo's idea has been.

Warm up? LEG SWINGS UP THE WAZOO 🦵🏿💨 💨💨 - led masterfully and mindfully by Ade - along with some other limbs and muscles essential for running.

Bags loaded up in the Mechanical Cycling Machine™️ (it's Fast Boi Shaun Dixon on a cargo bike 🚚), we are led off by Euclides Montes who, by his own admission, doesn't actually know the area at all. But who cares?! It's the running that counts! More being lost equals more running! For the relatively small Venn diagram of people who were both a) on a goodgym run and b) knowledgeable about football, Darren performed the role of Roving Reporter (bluetooth speaker) with the GOALS! GOALS! GOALS! from England's match against DR Congo. There were indeed three goals but it wasn't a pretty picture for the 68 minutes between goal 1 and goal 2. We ran past some awfully concerned looking pub goers! But it had a happy ending WAHEEEYYYYY ⚽️.

First stop (probably, can't remember the order because the goals were so compelling) was St Hilda's East Community Centre - the site of the VERY FIRST GOODGYM GROUP TASK. In 2009, Ivo and 13 others emptied a cupboard. And how! St Hilda's is awesome - long-term friend of gg Tower Hamlets, the Centre (led by Lucy) provides bilingual advisory services around employment 🧑🏾‍⚖️, offers activity clubs to combat loneliness 🎯, exercise classes for the elderly 🪑 - it's the kind of place that communities across the country utterly depend upon.

Question, is it possible to belong to goodgym for 12 years and still not know the name of common little yellow flowers 🌼 that come in pots? Answer: Yes! But we planted them on the roof. Those who were particularly confident at differentiating between plants (alive) and plants (dead) also performed a valuable weeding service (let's hear it for weeds 🌱!), leaving things very spruce and cheery up on the terrace for users of the Centre to enjoy.

Next stop, just round the corner off Arnold Circus, where one Ian Drysdale (runs a long way, never looks sad 👨🏻‍🦱) gave us the next bit of the history tour. DID YOU KNOW that Ivo and Ian worked together in a social-enterprise-cum-think-tank in Shoreditch, before goodgym even existed? If you didn't, you could guess. Ian showed us the EXACT SPOT where Ivo first turned to him and said, "Ian I have an idea about a club where people run around and do helpful things instead of just be in the gym" and Ian was like, "WHAT? No Way!" and Ivo was like, "Yes absolutely WAY and I'm doing it, and you're DOING IT WITH ME because you know about computers 🤓 and I only know about films and being kindly." I am fairly confident this is what was said. And so goodgym became a thing with a name and a team.

One! More! Stop! It was only TERRY'S HOUSE wasn't it! "Who's Terry?" - have you been living under a rock? Terry was the clay-pipe-collecting (no, still no idea), amateur-boxing, newspaper-reading, Ivo-appreciating elderly man who became the defacto first-ever goodgym coach. Ivo used to run to his house and there they did have a chat, and that really was it and that was kind of the point. Another goodgym man John Hunter (👋🏻) has also been a long-time coach visit-doer and so said some words about this. Those words were like: "Having been running to my coach Florence 👵🏿 for 6 years, and then Richard 👴🏻 for nearly 2 years now, I have learned a couple of things about what it means to make these visits. It is a friendship, not a service, and it has the potential to be profound for both of you." They were very serious words and I'm not crying, you're crying.

With that, the history had been retold, and it was time to jog on 🏃🏻‍♂️🏃🏻‍♂️- to Calthorpe, and a garden full of over..ooh, a hundred? people with love and admiration in their hearts for the phenomenon that is goodgym. Ivo is a very humble man, but let's be honest, it wouldn't exist without him, would it?

With the temperatures a little kinder than last week's heatwave, we gathered in Hyde Park before setting off on our run to the Abbey Centre. The route was a familiar Westminster obstacle course of tourists, bikes and the occasional unexpected change of direction, but everyone made it safely to Smith Street.

The Abbey Centre is a real community hub in the heart of Westminster, providing activities, support and services for local people of all ages. From youth programmes and wellbeing activities to advice services and community events, it plays an important role in bringing people together and creating opportunities for local residents.

We met Brenda and Khai, and got to work in the community garden. There was no shortage of jobs to get stuck into: weeding beds, sweeping paths, shifting an impressive collection of pots to create a bit more room for the elderly users, and finishing off with a well-earned hose-down for the plants.

We identified a errant banana palm, wondering whether it would survive outdoors in London - or would it be happier inside? After some research Caitlin planted one in a nicely protected pot, so we'll be keeping a close eye on it over the coming weeks. Watch this space to see how our new plant mascot fares!

Despite wrestling with a rather leaky hose, Brenda somehow managed to give the garden a thorough soaking while avoiding soaking the other GGers. Although, after last week's weather, a surprise drenching might actually have been quite welcome!

Next Tuesday we're heading to St Andrew's Youth Club for another evening of community action. We'd love to see you there!

Tracey, Anna, and I met outside the property for a quick chat before being ushered inside to tackle a wobbly double bed. The three of us made short work of the heavy lifting by channelling our inner Friends and pivoting away, proving that teamwork really does make the dream work!

With temperatures back in the runnable zone we gathered for our warm-up, and it was brilliant to see so many people choosing to kick off their week by making a positive impact in the community.

We headed over to Caius House, home to Battersea's Youth, Community and Children's Services. This youth club is a real community hub, supporting local families and young people through activities, advice and opportunities that help people thrive.

Our mission for the evening was to stuff as many envelopes as humanly possible. Inside each envelope was information about Battersea's Youth Summer Scheme, which offers local children and young people the chance to take part in fun, engaging activities over the school holidays. The program gives opportunities to learn new skills, stay active, make friends and enjoy experiences while supporting families during the long break.

We quickly developed a highly efficient production line sorting the letters, leaflets, envelopes and before long we were absolutely flying through the piles. There was some distinctly sketchy maths from me along the way, but one thing was clear: the team was emptying whole boxes at an impressive rate.

Fortunately, several people whose mathematical abilities far exceed mine did the proper calculations and worked out that we'd stuffed more than 3,800 letters by the end of the task. An incredible effort that will help spread the word to many families across the area.

Our reward? Fitness! We discovered a tiny but perfectly formed outdoor park and squeezed in a workout based around two levels of effort for every exercise. Think lunges followed by power lunges, planks graduating into plank shoulder taps. Everyone threw themselves into it with loads of energy. Thanks to everyone who came along and helped make such a tangible difference in just one evening.

Next week we're heading back to Doddington for our monthly task, followed by a well-earned pub quiz. All welcome! Hope to see you there!