This week we had two big birthdays and we had a fab time celebrating on Zoom!

Kathy turned 50 this week! Huge congratulations! She got 50 squats from each one of us to mark the day! I turned 40 and was given 40 crunches, YAY!

A lockdown birthday might be a bit different but catching up for a joint birthday Zoom party was absolutley brilliant! It was so nice to chat and see what everyone has been up to! Thank you all for coming along!

7 GoodGymers got together on Zoom for our first virtual fitness session during lockdown 2.0!

It was so great to see all your faces and I am glad you finally got to see mine too, after I managed to get my video setting sorted.. I think it's safe to say we'll have someone else in charge of the technical side of things next time... Oh Pete, is that you texting me again saying you want to do it? Ok then, but only if you wear that virtual cat on your head the whole time!

Anyway, it was a great 40 minute blast out working on our core with some aerobic exercises as well as some classic planks, crunches and russian twists. We obviously had to finish our session with some Sally Squats too, which of course will count towards your Fitness Bingo! If you have not signed up for it already now is a perfect time!

Really good work everyone! I hope you all have a great rest of your week and I look foward to seeing some of you on Saturday for our Community Mission!

11 GoodGymers had the best of times litter-picking and getting The Secret Garden in Newtown ready for autumn! Getting fit by doing good is just the BEST!

The evening started with 5 of us doing a fitness session in Belmont Park. We ran laps in the park and carried out a circuit session with 5 different stations. Fantastic effort with all those squats, lunges, press-ups and planks!

We then walked over to the task location where we met the rest of the gang. Great to have Liz back with us after a bit of a break and Miriam for her second Community Missions! We hope you enjoyed it! After having shared some news and the best things that has happened to us since last week (curries, getting allotments, birthdays and seeing friends were some of things mentioned), we then entered into the SECRET GARDEN of Newtown!

What an amazing spot!

Pat, the task-owner, took over this little strip of land in the beginning of lockdown back in March and has since then transformed it into a stunning little garden that now can be enjoyed by local residents, families and hopefully, in the near future, the kids from the local school around the corner.

There is even a little hedgehog house for homeless hedgehogs!

Our task was to weed the vegetable patches and sweep up the path. It was such lovely work, there was lots of laughing a chatting going on and I think we all very much enjoyed discovering the hidden ornaments and animal sculptures among the vegetables!

In order to work safely, with social distancing, we also sent a few GoodGymers out for a litter-pick in the surrounding streets which was very much needed! In 45 minutes they filled 4 bin bags! Amazing work!

I don't know how you all felt, but for me this evening was one of those amazing GoodGym sessions that lifted my spirits more than you could ever think. It was so nice to get stuck in together at the task, so brilliant to chat and catch with you all and as always incredible to see what a difference we made by working together! It felt like a rare chance to forget about everything else going on in the world at the moment and just enjoy that brilliant sense of belonging to a community where so many positive vibes are shared.

I hope to see you all very soon again! Take a look at upcoming Community Missions here and sign up!

9 GoodGymers did an amazing job helping Newtown Community Association with weeding, litter-picking and preparing a compost for autumn.

It felt like a proper autumn day with rain showers and strong winds blowing the leaves of the trees but we could not have had a nicer time than getting together to get fit whilst doing good!

The evening started with 6 of us meeting in Belmont Park for a fitness session. We ran laps in the park, with some fartlek, and did a circuit session so that we got a full body workout. Andy even got some reaction-training when a dog tried to get involved with his planking ha ha ha! Super good work everyone!

When the fitness session was completed we went over to the task location where we met the rest of the gang. We started with a safety briefing and an introduction, which included sharing what you LEAST favorite meal is (fry-up, rice-pudding, marmelade and cheese were some of the thing mentioned). It was brilliant to welcome Sam who is a experienced GoodGymer but new to Exeter. We hope you enjoyed the session and that we get to see you soon again!

Working at the task we had a lovely time chatting and catching up with each other and as usual we were amazed with how much we got done.

In one hour we:

• Weeded 2 long alleyways
• Emptied a compost bin
• Cleared the area of litter
• Filled up all pots with manure

Speed-weeding! Only the GoodGym can do that!

It was also lovely to have some local residents popping by to thank us for out work! Such a great evening all around!

I hope you all had good runs and bike rides home afterwards. It is getting very dark in the evenings so make sure you wear reflectives and head-torches for safety. Next week we are continuing with some more gardening tasks in Newtown and I hope to see you then! Have a great week!