After some last minute re-arranging of tasks due to the cancellation of our original task, we were lucky enough to be needed by Mark at Hope Housing. We hadn't been at Hope Housing for a long time, so it was great to get back.

It was amazing to have Ross back with us after a long absence due to injuries (football related...GoodGym had nothing to do with it!!!), we hope you stay injury free and are able to join us regularly....especially after the World Cup!

We are hoping to have many more of our runners come and join now that Netball and other sports break up for the summer. We will always welcome you all back with open arms!!

The route to Hope Housing took us along the Prom but then up the crazy Overcliff Zig Zag which looks amazing as it's covered in overgrowing plants, almost like something out of the jungle....and it soon swallows up your soul!!!! It starts nice and steady but when you start to tire of the slope it gets steeper.....and when you see some stairs you assume you're at the top.....

BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

there's more zig zag after that!!! And when you reach the top completely out of breath you are welcomed by the smell of wakky bakky! Perfect for your dying lungs!

Aaaaanyway we slowly made our way to Hope Housing where Mark had started emptying a shed....the team quickly split into two and one group re located some metal fencing, so quickly that they were given another job straight away. In the end the whole gang made up a chain passing things out of the shed and piling rubbish on one side, metal things on another side....and probably the most satisfying job must have been smashing the unwanted furniture up with a sledgehammer!! Laura managed to find a whole bunch of random items in a pan...Dan looks great with a sledgehammer....and everyone looks great watching Dan do some sweeping right at the end!! They were all working very hard up to that point! Honest, the photos prove it!!

It was great to have enough time to finish a task completely and not have to leave before to get back to base in time for 8pm....we even managed to get back 5 minutes early. We headed back the easiest route and Laura and Soren still had enough energy to power up the hill back to Flirt Cafe..... Next week we're just up the road doing some painting...if England win on Saturday it will clash with the group run....if you want to avoid football come and hang out with us, we'll always be there win or lose!! Plus if Andrea comes along it will be her 50th good deed!!!! Wooooooohhoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

Well done everyone!

Our lovely sunny group run took us to Slades Farm, a community garden nestled around the back of Bournemouth University. We welcomed back Pia, really happy we didn't scare you away! And it was great to have Soren with us, hopefully for a couple of weeks whilst he is down in Bournemouth for a few more weeks with work. Dan brought Hae along and the route wasn't great for them. Next week is shorter and so is the group run the following week, please come back again then!!!

It was just under 4km there in the end and the route was predominantly uphill...which isn't ideal as it was really warm and muggy, despite sticking to shaded roads covered by beautiful trees! When we arrived Theresa was on hand and ready to put us straight to work. The vegetable patch was in desperate need of watering so Tom, Miffy, Laura and Soren filled water containers and lugged them with a wheelbarrow to then fill up watering cans to then water the patches. They were even treated to some flowers and leaves!!!

The rest of the gang were on bramble cutting duties...and tick patrol....everyone got stuck in and were really eager until Pia came across an unwanted guest...luckily she spotted it and Andrew was on hand to offer his credit card, Pia swiftly and safely removed the little critter!! Make sure you all check your bodies please!!

The run home was a lot nicer as the temperature had dropped and most of the route was downhill. Nice to see Caprice, Neil, Soren and Laura push the last bit backk to base, a mean hill with some nasty steps to finish you off!

Well done everyone, a great turnout and lots of friendly faces. Next week we're just around the corner either at Body Positive or Hope Housing. Will confirm over the next week!

Have a great rest of the week!! And enjoy your dinner tomorrow evening...not jealous at all!!!

Yesterday saw us head back to St Clement's Primary School in Boscombe to help Joe paint the school yard fence, and the gang was really looking forward to it!

We were lucky to welcome and meet Pia, it was her first group run after moving to Bournemouth in March and she fitted right in!! Talking to everyone and more than holding her on with a brush and the longer run! Lovely to meet you, hope you come along next week to Slades Farm, we could use your community gardening skills!!

It was great to also have Tom back and thank you Miffy for getting him to come along!

After another muggy and warm run along the overcliff we got to the school on time and Joe was ready for us. He even had mats out for us to be able to kneel comfortably as well as sit, brushes for everyone and even plastic aprons to help protect our clothing! Very thoughtful and much appreciated! We still got loads of paint on us, but that was our fault! And it's non toxic so not a big deal. Laura managed to somehow keep her brand new New Balance trainers spotless throughout!! Impressive. Remember, you get a 20% discount on New Balance gear with GoodGym. Worth looking into.

As you can see from the photos the gang got right to it and made very quick progress. It's an excellent task as it's very therapeutic, and you can chat to everyone around you too.

We had cuddles with Caprice's little puppy waiting for us at Flirt, so we took the quickest route back, shaving a km off...we did get back 5 minutes late for the second week in a row....sorry Grace hahhahaha

We had a few beers at Flirt and lots of puppy cuddles and all went home feeing better for it! Well done everyone. Slightly longer run next week, but the weather looks amazing. Slades Community garden has suffered some vandalism so they need our help. The more of you signed up the better!

Have a great week!

This week we ran to Boscombe to check out Bournemouth Foodbank's new warehouse location. A great turn out with Daryl back from a well earned break and Caprice back again after a busy few weeks. Also great to have Esther back again! Dan joined us again after traveling Japan for a couple weeks! What a cool bunch of jet=setters!!

Our run took us down the gardens towards the beach and then up a steep climb and onto the Overcliff...not a friendly start at all but a great photo op at the top overlooking the coast. Then we dropped in through and up Boscombe garden and back into Boscombe high street....SOOOOO many HILLS!!! And it was so muggy again.

After an introduction from Ed the team split up into sorters, shop fitters, cardboard box builders, cutters and flag folders! Our 30mins flew by and we felt like we wanted to stay and do more! But as you can see from the photos we had a lot of fun. And every time we sort through donations at the Foodbank we end up so hungry!! The way back took us along the Prom and soon a conversation about cheese broke out and by the time we got back to Flirt, everyone was starving! Well done everyone, great turnout! Next week we are painting playground fences in Boscombe and after we are having drinks....just because we can!! See you then and thank you Lee for some great photos and Neil and Grace for the team work on the pun!!

A beautiful day in Bournemouth enticed 16 of us out on World Running Day to celebrate Volunteers Week!

We welcomed Esther who has run with GoodGym before in York, and is now studying at Bournemouth Uni. We hope to see a lot more of you from now on Esther!

Millie was also nice enough to bring Michele and Mathias along and they did great. Got involved and chatting to people straight away. Just how it's supposed to be.

As our task was very close we extended our run a little and headed to the beach front to dodge all the people going for a walk...Our route back towards the school happened to take us up the Harvester steps of pain....and we all managed to get up them and ruin a couple's photo shoot in the process by repeating it a few times!

It was really warm and we had made up for the short run with increasing the intensity and were happy to make our way to the school. The children had made some great progress with planting certain section up with herbs and adding colour. It looked great compared to last time were there.

We did some weeding,some with gloves, some without, everybody was beavering away!! Laura and Miffy painted the top of some logs a nice red colour, John and Neil loaded up a wheelbarrow with mulch to spread around the flower beds and really we could be hired to work in Japanese gardens, we're that good. We even had time to pose by the basketball courts and look super cool whilst doing it!

Well done to John for running the Half Marathon in Poole last weekend...on a very hot day, and beating his previous PB by 6 minutes! Machine!!!

You guys are great! We'll be back in a couple weeks to finish off the job before the school is visited for their entry to the Bournemouth in Bloom competition. Next week we are visiting the Foodbank at their new location, so very exciting!! Come along!!