10 Girls, 1 Guy, a 6k run, 30 Petunia's, 2 odd encounters and 1 big fun night at GG Brent.

Rain, rain go away, at least by 7pm anyway...... oh great you did thanks for that! After a thankfully dry end to the evening and No April Showers in sight, GG Brent and it's merry band of women and one man, congregated at the Queensbury Pub on Willesden High Road for a joyful and high spirited start to the week.

Sadhana's upcoming first marathon led the discussions as the crew planned the logistics of getting to Brighton to support...... and to eat fish and chips hurrah, but obviously the first thing more important LOL the fact Sadhana will be running 26.2 Miles in 6 Days!!!!!! Woo HOO.

With housekeeping in check and a warm welcome outstretched to our 2 new ladies - Andrea and Gillian, we set to work, pounding the pave the 1.8mile route over to Harlseden High Street to link with our favourite pastor Marcia Tull for a spot of planting after our galavanting.

Leading from the back and welcoming the new starters coach Ellie was lucky enough to have coach-runner Clairey-Bell on hand to step up to the plate and lead from the front and putting the leading pack through their paces by the sounds of things!! The back pack cruised the streets and were joined by a local character on a bike who invited us in for tea and a slice of his Battenberg...... We hope he meant cake!! Declining we powered on!!

In no time at all the flurry of red tees had descended onto the high road and were greeted with the best smiling face ever - Marcia, with boxes and boxes of beautiful spring flowers that we would be tasked with planting in the front garden of the church!

Harlesden Methodist Church is a crucial part of the community and serves the people of Harlesden in more ways than one, offering guidance, a safe space and worthwhile outreach to the community on a regular basis. What better way to give back then to brighten up their surroundings as the Spring comes in!

Off to work we set, to the soundtrack of Mariah Carey and Tom Petty, a musical feast for the ears, while we Got Diggy with it on task.

30 minutes of hard graft included: * The discovery of 10 foot worms * Laura's rat cage * Hidden Treasures - Gin Bottles and Cork Screws to name but a few

Before long the time was up and the merry band of Do-Gooders were on their way once more, but not before some lung busting sprints up and down the high road and star-jump squats for good measure!!

On route back and there was sharing and caring, thrills and puddle spills, giggles and gumption...... But just a typical night for one of the best groups of people in the land, where the running and the do-gooding go hand in hand with the community and friendship that's blossomed over the year.

A Fabulous evening, terrific task and job well done from the Brent Brigade

Until next time folks........

Do Good. Feel Good. Inspire

What an excellent start for GoodGym Lewisham! A very enthusiastic 32 athletes limbered up to take on some heavy-duty book-shifting at New Cross Learning and even had enough time to do some Cardio Box Crushing (yes, it's now 'a thing') before jogging off to the recycling centre, cardboard in tow.

Speech!

Before we ran off into the darkness, we gathered in the foyer of Glass Mill Leisure Centre, where Councillor Obajimi Adefiranye made a short speech, welcoming GoodGym to the borough and highlighting the work we do with isolated older people in the community. We were also joined by Councillors Stella Jeffrey, Joan Millbank and Damien Egan (who has promised to join us on one of our group runs soon!).

Enjoying the warmth of the leisure centre, we realised we would eventually need to brave the cold and go outside. It wasn't long before we felt warm again after a head-count and brief burst of high-knees/fast arms and a swift jog up Lewisham Way. Adele led the group, with Beth kindly offering to take the position of back-marker. En route to the community library, we also spotted the fabulous phone-box library, adopted by the people of Lewisham after it went into retirement. We kept a steady pace and, with Lewisham Way being a busy, fast-paced kind of road, we got in some short sprints as we crossed side streets.

The Task

Before long, we were outside New Cross Learning and being ushered around the back by Kathy, to avoid wading in through a public meeting. Gill introduced herself and also told us about the task, telling us how long this job would take them without our help. With a group this large, we soon had everyone in their positions: a team in the downstairs space, transferring books from boxes into bags, a chain of workers on the stairs, passing the bags along and up, a group in the upstairs room, decanting books and freeing up the bags and an intrepid bunch of recyclers, crushing and transporting the boxes to the nearby recycling centre.

Working at pace and with great determination, the group soon had all the books moved from the downstairs room (ready for a future task!) and we made our way outside, where we did some squats to keep warm, while Gill thanked everyone for their hard work.

Our Return

We now ran back towards our start point, with Conroy showing us a more scenic route than the one along the main road. Gathering near Deptford Bridge station, Adele suggested that anyone who might want to push a bit harder could do so along this stretch, with a large group choosing to go fast and hard, then turn to rejoin the rest of the group, before heading back together with a sprint finish into Glass Mill.

There was a buzz of chatter while we stretched and heard about next week's task, with many nodding heads and calls of 'See you next week!'.

Same time, same place then!