What a lovely evening spent with lovely people - the norm when out with my lovely Goodgym friends.

Once again, we were blessed with good weather... especially after so much rain in the days preceding tonight‘s task.

Tonight was an extra special night, as the lovely Kat was celebrating her birthday! What a true Goodgym die hard to come and spend her birthday night leafleting with us lot!!! You are a legend Mrs Arnold!!

Kat, Hazel, Maurice, Phil & Nicola started the evening with a brisk circular walk from the Sherborne bungalows down past the cemetery and back up and through the estate to our task starting point. We put the world to rights as always - tonight’s main topic of conversation being potholes and brown bin charges!

The lovely Hazel greeted us and told us all about our task for the evening. Tonight we were delivering leaflets to the estate to promote a Police drop in for residents of the estate. We managed to get all the leaflets done that we needed to and we really hope that the clinics have lots of uptake. And thank goodness we had Hazel to guide us around the estate! I think we’d still be there now if it wasn’t for you Hazel!!!

To celebrate Kats birthday, we headed off to the chippy once we’d finished our task, for some birthday chips! It was lovely to stand outside eating our chips still in the daylight! I do love spring!!!

Well done, everyone on another amazing task achieved. And Kat, we hope you enjoy the rest of your birthday!

And finally, a shout out to some of our regulars who couldn’t make it this evening. You were very much missed.

Have a great week, everyone.

Lots of love Nicola xxxxx

Tonight, the splendid 7 we're back on the Sherborne estate to help support with some weeding and digging in preparation for some wildflowers to be sown. We hope that these will really improve the local area and give people something lovely to look at and appreciate.

It was wonderful to have Emily back with us tonight. We've missed you Emily and it was great to have you back with us again.

Before getting stuck into the task, we set out for our weekly exercise. Tonight, we did a circular route setting off from the Sherborne community hub, heading out down towards the crematorium and back round. It was lovely to catch up as we walked and the weather stayed dry for us which is always a bonus.

Back at the task, we were greeted by the lovely Hazel, who always gives us a wonderful warm welcome. Hazel led the way to the area that we were working on and explained what needed to be done. We split into two groups. Karen, Emily and Maurice took one section and Hazel, Ian, Nigel and Nicola took another section. Armed with our trowels, rakes spades and forks, we commenced our work of weeding and raking. The soil was quite rich which made the task much easier. We saw lots of insects... spiders, woodlouse, worms, snails and a beautiful red admiral butterfly.

Quite a few local residents passed us by as we were working but we couldn't manage to persuade any of them to muck in lol :) Hopefully once they see an improvement to the area, it might encourage them to help keep the place looking nice or to maybe even get involved in future volunteering...

We achieved a fair amount in the time we were there this evening and we all felt that the area looked much tidier once we'd finished. It's definitely a work in progress and will probably need some more support, but at least we helped a little this evening.

It was great to have 7 of us there tonight!!! I really enjoyed being with you all and catching up with you all as always!

A BIG shout out tonight to Nigel for this week’s pun!! You’re a star!

Have a great week everyone and see you all soon!

Lots of love Nicola xxx

It’s been a while since we were at the Sherborne community garden, so it was a real treat to be back there this evening, especially on such a lovely summers evening. It was great to have Emily back with us this evening after not seeing her for a few weeks (just gutted that I missed you Em!).

Before we cracked on with the task of painting, Karen, Emily, and Hazel set off for a walk around the area. Hazel did a bit of a guided tour of some of the estate and showed us where some of the local residents had planted wildflower seeds to help improve the area for themselves and other members of the community. We didn’t cover a massive distance this evening, but that didn’t matter, the important thing was getting some exercise and being together.

Back at the task, Karen, Nigel, Hazel, and Emily set to work with some painting. Our focus this evening was on the community garden and some of the areas that needed a little bit of a facelift. We loaded up our brushes with paint and within no time, the area was looking much brighter.

It was a lovely evening out in the sunshine, enjoying lots of chatter with good friends. We hope to be back at the community garden again soon.

Thank you Karen for taking the very colourful photographs for us this evening.

Well done everyone. You’re all amazing.

Have a wonderful week.

Love & hugs Nicola Xxx

It was a good turnout for GoodGym tonight despite grey skies and threatening rain.

Tonight, Karen, Hazel, Kimberley, Nigel, Phil and Nicola were helping to tackle an overgrown area in a residential area in Crewe.

Before getting stuck into the task, we headed out for a brisk walk. We did a circular route of approximately 3 km and had a good natter as we walked. The rain was threatening but luckily, it was nothing more than a bit of drizzle.

Back at the task, we were greeted by the lovely Hazel, and two local residents who joined us to help. The area we were working on is a large, overgrown patch of land that seemingly doesn’t belong to anyone, and consequently, the council won’t take care of it. It’s also prone to fly tipping. The gentleman and his wife, whose house overlooks this patch of land decided they wanted to improve the area so that they can enjoy looking at a nice area of wildflowers instead of fly tipping and an overgrown mess.

We set to work with loppers, shears, a strimmer, spades, a scythe type tool and the lawnmower! Nigel was in his element with that! It’s surprising what can be achieved with a few pairs of hands in an hour.... The area was looking so much better by the time we'd finished and the rain held off (mostly!).

Something that made this task even more enjoyable was having local residents there who were getting involved.

Well done everyone on another great task. You’re all awesome!

Have a great week.

Lots of love, Nicola xxxx

Tonight’s task was working alongside our lovely Town Councillor, Hazel Faddes. We’ve done quite a few tasks in the Crewe area that support the part of the town that Hazel looks after. Hazel works so hard on behalf of the people in her local area and she really does go the extra mile – she really gets stuck in with the projects she’s supporting, so it was a pleasure to be able to help her with this task tonight and to try and help make an impact to a local alleyway that is in need of some TLC.

Maurice, Nicola, Hazel and Phoenix got stuck into the weeding. It was quite an undertaking and even though we were small in numbers, we made a fair dent into the weeds. The idea of helping to improve this alleyway is to try and encourage residents to look after the area that they live in, and in particular, the small section outside their own back gates. Hazel did a sterling job of trying to recruit the residents to help and one man did actually get stuck into the weeding for a while.

We had a good natter as we worked, chatted about all sorts, studied various insects that Phoenix found, and did a bit of motorcycle dodging! All in all, it was a happy and productive night. AND….. the rain held off – mostly. Just the odd bit of drizzle but not enough to write home about!

Well done everyone. It was lovely to spend the evening with you all.

Have a great week. Lots of love, Nicola xxx

Ooooh, it was a chilly one tonight!! Around Crewe today, schools were closed, running clubs cancelled and football matches called off. But did that stop us Goodgym diehards from getting out….? Don't be ridiculous, of course it didn't!!! LOL! However, we did decide against doing a run as the pavements were icy in patches so instead, we decided to use our litter pick as our exercise for the evening.

Tonight, Kat, Karen, Hazel, Maurice & Nicola spent the evening collecting litter around an area that Hazel had identified as being in need of some attention. She wasn’t wrong! We collected 10 bags of rubbish – a Goodgym record I think!! And I think we could have done the same again given more time.

We enjoyed a good laugh as we collected some interesting items including a bra, a full pack of cheese and onion rolls and unopened bottle of Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew! 😉

Although it was cold, it stayed dry for us (always a bonus) and we chatted and put the world to rights as we worked. It was good to have Hazel with us this evening. Always a pleasure to have you on our tasks Hazel – and thanks for bringing this one to our attention, we really appreciate it.

Well done everyone on another great night’s work. I know that our efforts are appreciated by most (with the exception of the occasional resident… 😉).

Have a great week and look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Loads of love, Nicola xxx

The British summer really is doing us proud this year with yet another glorious evening of warm weather! Trouble is, it doesn’t really put us much in the mood for running! Karen & Nigel had already walked a good couple of miles to get to the task this evening and Maurice had run 5K this morning, so none of us needed much persuading to do a brisk walk instead of a run tonight. It was actually really lovely and gave us a good opportunity to have a good natter.

Back at the task, we were armed with paintbrushes and sage green paint and set to work painting the bottoms of the planters in the lovely Sherborne Community Garden. Every year for the past 7, this fabulous community project has won an award from the Royal Horticultural Society and they don’t want to change the habit of a lifetime!!! The judges will be back next Monday to do their annual judging, so the garden needs to be in the best shape possible. To be fair, it’s looking really lovely already and we were there just to put the finishing touches to a couple of things. Debbie and her team of volunteers do an amazing job in the garden and have a great time doing it. There’s always a lovely atmosphere whenever we go there, and we’re always made to feel really welcome.

We had a good chat and a laugh as we were painting and were kindly given refreshments too which were happily given out by two of the local children from the estate. It was great to see them getting involved in the project The digestives were definitely a hit with us all (when is sugar NOT a hit!!! Haha!).

The weather was lovely, the company was lovelier and the garden was looking positively alive tonight. We had a great time in the garden and we wish The Sherborne Community Garden all the very best of luck for the judge’s visit on Monday - we're rooting for you!

Until next time amigos!

Have a wonderful week.

Love always, Nicola xx

It was lovely to be back at Goodgym this evening for our weekly fix with our lovely bunch of members – all eager to get running and get helping once again.

Karen, Nigel, Maurice and I met at Coronation Crescent where we did our warmup before heading out for our run. The weather still felt warm and muggy but obviously nowhere near as hot as it had been the week before thank goodness. Tonight, we did a completely different route to anything we’ve done before… we took on some lovely country lanes (bit of a busy road but we survived! Eek!!). It was 3.5 km in total, so I’ve rounded up to 4 for the report! 😉 Well, it’s not my fault that the system doesn’t let me put in 3.5!

We had a chatty run – it was nice to catch up with Maurice after him being away for on his holidays.

Back at the task, it was lovely to join up with Hazel and Phoenix as well as a couple of lovely residents who’d popped out to help. The task tonight was to help to clear an area at the back of the local shops/flats. Unfortunately, this area has been prone to some antisocial behaviour and the area had become untidy and uncared for. Some of the work had already been done by amazing local residents, so our job tonight was to help with the weeding and general tidying up. We set to work with our trowels, spades and weeding tools and within an hour had made quite a difference. We cleared most of the weeds and filled the brown bin!

As always, it was a lovely, chatty, social evening in lovely company. The rain held off until just at the very end when we felt a few small drops starting to come down.

Well done everyone – amazing as always! Look forward to seeing you all again soon!

Have a great week. Love always, Nicola xxx

Feeling HOT HOT HOT!!

Well, tonight was a super hot night (definitely not complaining though). The sun was blazing and temperatures must have been nearing at least 25 degrees!!

Emily braved the heat and ran to the task. I thought with it being so hot tonight (and us Brits are such heat lightweights because we’re never prepared for it!) that we could do a brisk walk instead. We all agreed and set off but after we’d been walking for all of about 10 seconds, Maurice coaxed us into running instead, lol! We did a circular route of just under 2 miles and we managed it without collapsing (just, haha!). We were all glad of some chilled water when we got to the task.

Tonight we were helping to clear a local backsie… a back alley that had become overgrown and was making it inaccessible for the residents to pull their bins down – some of the residents are elderly and were really struggling.

It wasn’t an easy task…. the bottom half of the alley being particularly overgrown. There were large brambles, nettles and weeds that all needed pulling up and clearing to create a bit of a path for the bins to go down. We set to work with our loppers, choppers, secateurs, spades and rakes to start clearing. We didn’t go unscathed – the brambles and nettles certainly made their presence felt!

But, with 6 pairs of hands all on the job, the impact was soon evident as the alley started to become clearer and a path was made. We found a few obscure items while tidying…. A couple of mops, a football and a bouncy rubber ball. BUT…. the star find of the evening was 3 golf balls. Nigel was made up – thought all his Christmas’s had come at once! Apparently, golf ball scavenger hunts are his favourite pastime (much to Karen’s delight, I'm sure, lol !!!).

By the end of the evening, the alley was looking massively improved, and I think it’s fair to say that the alley is now clear enough for the residents to pull their bins down. We filled 19 bin bags!!! Thanks Hazel for organising this task for us and asking us to come and help. We had a lovely evening as always.

Well done team – we did ourselves proud again as always! You’re all wonderful!

Oodles of love Nicola xxx