Great marshalling session. Enjoyed supporting people to get their vaccine. Got lots of smiles and waves on the way out. Very windy after last night's storm! Great chats with fellow volunteers.

Last night we returned to our beloved home base location for our first multiple Community Mission since Covid-19. Wow, it felt good to be back!

As the Community Hall is due to open up soon, we tackled the front patio which was overgrown with weeds and moss. We were overjoyed to see Helen, the Hall Manager and her new addition Red who is utterly adorable.

You've done it again - you lot are brilliant!

As usual we surprised ourselves and got pretty much all we set out to do, DONE.

Awesome to be back!

Working on a small and perfectly formed pocket paradise

Well done to the GoodGym Trafford crew who ran 7K last night to help tidy up a little pocket paradise - Stephen Street Community Garden in Urmston, Trafford. Special mention to Helen aka Aggie who joined us for her first ever GoodGym run, well done!

After meeting at our base location of St Matthews Community Hall, Stretford (M32 9AJ) at 6.30pm we had our welcome natter (including a reminder about our social on 18th September after our Group run that evening at Head Bar, document check and warm up from Kate (at points both at the same time!), the team took off at a fair clip led by Lou and kindly backmarked by Cassie. Big thanks to you both and also to our tech consultant for the evening, John who helped us with some Strava connections!

Once all assembled, resident and fellow GoodGym-er Jo who was our task owner for the evening, explained some of the history of the plot and how it had been a dumping ground a few years back until the local community decided to take it over and transform it. The result is a lovely little green spot that has fruit, vegetables and flowers for the community (including the nearby Carehome residents) to enjoy.

Of particular focus is the end of summer party which is in a few weeks, so with that in mind and after we had been briefed and were suitably tooled up, the team set about weeding, raking, tidying and clipping like nobody's business to make sure the garden is looking its best for that!

Whilst we worked we admired the crop of frankly whopping raspberries and abundant apple tree which has already yielded sufficient a crop for crumble for the whole street! We all got into the party mood with some of Kate's tunes and even Freddy our mascot paid us a visit to lend a paw.

This GoodGym Trafford task is not to be sniffed at...

Even though Jo has been on Group tasks before she was still surprised about the impact the team had in less than 45 minutes.

This is fantastic, look how much better it looks already!

After taking a good group shot (Kate's photo skills are slowly improving!)

we divided ourselves into two teams to run home, one team taking a longer route and running at a faster pace with the second team pacing ourselves.

On our return we stretched off and congratulated ourselves on another task well done. Next week our Group run is helping a small children's mental health charity to clear down after their event on 11th September. Click the link to register!

Thanks to all who joined us and see you next time!

Happy running, Kate x

WHAT A NIGHT!

GoodGymTrafford launched into the stratosphere last night. An incredible 71 runners/ walkers turned out in the distinctly unpredictable weather to kick off GoodGym’s newest area from our regular start location - St Matthew's Community Hall. 71 is the biggest turn out ever for a GoodGym launch and goes to show how awesome people in Trafford are!

I'vey never seen such a big group of volunteers!

We were joined by the Mayor of Trafford, Mr Rob Chilton who welcomed GoodGym to the area. We were also joined by many Trafford Councillors, Trafford Borough Council colleagues and friends from running, charity and community groups across the Borough. We even had a visit from our four-legged mascot, Freddy who got in on the action in his red GoodGym bow. GoodGym is funded by Trafford Borough Council so a big thanks to them for their ongoing and significant support to us - we couldn't do it without you.

What a lovely bunch!

As well as meeting new people while we all assembled some runners also got their documents checked so that they can start doing coach runs (regularly running to see an isolated elderly person), or so that they can take part in mission runs (running to help isolated elderly people with one-off practical tasks). Big thanks to Lisa for helping with the document checks!

After our welcome chat, we warmed up in fine style including the thundering of 142 trainers as we did fast feet to get our heart rates up. Once warm, we ran/ walked from St Matthew's over to Stretford Meadows, dodging puddles and completed a slow uphill drag where we all convened for a fitness task led by Kate. Divided into two teams we squatted and balanced ourselves to give our leg muscles that extra workout and then ran back to St Matthews to complete our gardening task. A big thank you to Liv for leading the Walking group and to John for backmarking along with all the other GoodGymers from across the country who chatted to everyone and explained what GoodGym is all about. Thanks guys!

Helen, the Community Hall Manager, provided us with the kit to get going and even opened up the doors for us to listen to the Band that were practicing - the music helped spur us on even more!

Once we had allocated the tasks everyone went to it like mad things for 40 minutes really using those muscles to:

• Pull up bushes and weeds from a massive raised bed, and to our surprise revealing some old headstones;
• Dig out flower beds;
• Weed and replant planters with bedding plants;
• Weeding, digging over and planting Gladioli near the main entrance ;
• Cutting back ivy from the long car park wall;
• Sweeping the ground and car park;
• Raking and sorting waste; and
• Tidying the surrounding area.

I cannot BELIEVE the difference you have all made - thank you!

Helen was blown away by the amount of energy and how much we achieved - well done to you all!

After we had finished all our tasks, we closed with some stretches and a chat about next week's task which is a poster dash to support the publicising of an event by Calm Connections (a local children's mental health charity) in September. Click here to sign up

We all celebrated our success with cheers all round and left with a spring in our step.

It was fabulous to see so many smiling faces throughout the evening and to see you all getting to know each other, doing some fitness and of course, transforming St Matthew's which was massively appreciated by Helen.

We will meet at St Matthew's every Wednesday at 6.30pm from now on.

Once again, well done to all and we very much look forward to seeing you all at St Matthews next time!

Keep running, Kate