Oh it is lovely not to need jumpers while we do good! As we met it was great to see Fay pull up, selecting the hardest space to park in, and whip out our certificate and trophy which we won from beating the streets of Chelmsford! We posed and Martin eyed the prize Sallyann cradled and practiced drinking wine from, while Nisar was unsure why we were all so happy!

We headed off on route on a lovely jaunt through the park laughing at Joe's poor choice of french car and Andy wondered where in Writtle campus the secret new activity will be. Seeing Rich trying to steal the trophy we sped to meet him. Dividing up the leaflets we delivered them around old moulsham with aplomb and chatting about the eagerly anticipated police, fire and crime commissioner elections tomorrow. Great work to help out Mind, Sanctus and Headway charities everyone.

When we ran out we said our goodbyes to some and ran back, bumping into Richard E on the way. Casually walking down the street holding a pint going to put his bins out. Joel was incredibly jealous and inspired. Legend. We stopped for a photo at a restaurant which expressed one of our favourite sayings at GoodGym, 'Oh Rich' and ran back. Erin left us in her dust, inspired by a full bladder.

Don't forget - pub quiz this Sunday. New Beaulieu task at some point this month, and Andy's 250th Parkrun this weekend!!

The surprisingly cold evening didn't stop David and Martin from optimistically turning up in shorts, whilst the rest of us sensibly covered our legs for an hour of litter picking.

We were pleased to see Nisar back after a break, talk about parkrun, and hear all about his other great volunteering work recently! Russell also returned after a short break and of course he and Andy talked at length, with Disneyland on this week's agenda for them. Martin casually slipped into conversation that he'd run a marathon in Colchester at the weekend, and spotted an unknown Goodgymer.

We tried out a different litter picking location down by the river, and whilst being stared down by an understandably angry swan, filled up two very heavy bags. Andy ventured into the bushes and produced an almost unbelievable amount of Tesco cider cans, followed by posing for a photo with a gleeful wine glass holding Sallyann.

Our task this evening couldn't go past without mention of some of the group's previous love, Beat the Street, or without a photo of a once frequented lamppost on Waterloo Lane.

With it being Fay's birthday tomorrow, she very kindly brought us delicious homemade lemon drizzle cake, thanks Fay! It's also Sallyann's birthday on Saturday, David's birthday on Monday, and it's just been Nisar's birthday. We funnily enough didn't discuss gifts, but plans for birthday food, including Moto, homemade pizza, fish and chips, and Chinese takeaway. Hope everyone enjoys!

Thanks for a great litter pick, and see you all soon.

Laurie

A warm Wednesday evening we met at our usual meeting place before skipping down the high street to meet Fay with a bag full of leaflets ready to be delivered to the good people of Moulsham.

While we got stuck into the task, conversation turned to food ( as per usual with me ) and any plans we might have for valentines day. Jenny won, as she told us that her husband was cooking them a steak dinner and we all agreed we would be round later to join them. And judging by the photo she married well. #Welljeal lol

Having posted all of our leaflets we posed for a photo and headed back before saying goodbye

Next week we will be litter picking along the Springfield basin

See you all next week

Run Happy

Rich

Our original GoodGymer Ken surprised us tonight with his presence and his return to running after a couple of months off, and we were pleased to see our newest GoodGymer Nisar for his second run with us.

There was some initial shock at the sight of Andy's bare legs on a cold January evening, but he was joined by Martin's similarly bare legs and Ben bare arms, while the rest of us had approximately three layers on...

Joel led us out and Leanne kept Andy company backmarking, whilst our lovely Fay and Sallyann set off walking to Springfield Basin with the equipment. We reconvened and also spotted Angela in her snazzy glasses, and very slowly made our way to the canal.

Distractions ensued, in the form of grot spots for those of us dedicated to the task, and a discarded football for Rich. Big thanks to Joe for documenting our own Christiano Richaldo, and more importantly, taking photos of the rest of the group.

We walked a surprisingly long time to find the right bin to leave our heavy bags by, and made our way back.

Well done everyone, two huge bags of litter taken off the streets, and an amazing way to end the January Challenge! You have collectively done 82 good deeds, and 2,303km, going way over the 45 good deeds and 1,000km we set ourselves!

Hopefully see you on Saturday at parkrun, or maybe Sunday for the quiz.

Laurie