Our terrific task owner…

19 runners headed to the Royal London Hospital this evening, where task owner Nancy was waiting for us, a stoical ONE WOMAN team (where usually there are three…).

Two teams, two fabulous tasks

Teams speedily divided into two: one headed to the wards with Nancy to distribute newspapers; the other headed to the John Harrison garden with me on a huge scale litter-pick.

Have we got news for you

Nancy’s team speedily blitzed many wards, many stairs - and a stuck lift. They were particularly appreciated this evening as A&E waiting times were 4-5 hours, so the arrival of some reading material delivered by a crew of grinning GoodGymers was, by all accounts, very much appreciated. Steps were clocked up, stairs were climbed, tricky lifts were, er, negotiated and patient patients offered a 15-minute distraction. Go, team.

What a trash stash

Team Litter Lovers, meantime, couldn’t wait to get stuck into the trash stash in the hospital’s John Harrison garden. Gloves were donned, sturdy sacks grabbed and off they went. Laughing gas canisters, vodka bottles, fast food wrappers and hundreds of soft drink bottles soon made their way into the runners’ bags.

A small splinter crew of two, Liz and David, formed the Prune Posse, a dynamic duo who filled additional bags with overgrown hedge cuttings, whose thorny branches made a way more lethal addition than any other refuse this evening. And so the bags were filled, and tied, and stacked ready to be taken away. What. Stash. Trash.

We met back in the hospital reception, a little after the newspaper gang (sorry to have been late) before forming two teams to race back to the hotel relay-style.

What a night! Feelgood fitness at its very best.

And so to the shout-out’s…

Welcome, and thank you, to our first time runner Neil – what a wonderful contribution you made on your first run!

And hello, and welcome, to Rachel, by no means new to GoodGym, but new to use here at Tower Hamlets. Hope to see you again very soon.

Thanks to Kat and Liz, for wonderful back marking. Thanks to Becky and Lieke, for some great pictures. And tonight’s fun pun, our totally wicked pun, was brought to you by Polly. Thank you, Polly!

And let’s not forget Barts Volunteers’ Nancy, who heads up a seriously huge operation, and, despite being a solitary task owner this evening (with an injury as well, no less) wouldn’t let us down and planned a smooth, thoroughly rewarding evening’s activity for us. Thank you Nancy.

Next week, we’re heading back to SCHOOL!

Yes, next week we’re at a brand new task: a group of us are heading to St Matthias School to help start a huge undertaking of clearing the garden of some seriously oversized weeds and other plants, so the children can start growing their own veg. Have a look, check it out, and do sign up if you fancy coming along!

In the meantime, have a good week. Whether it’s showering or shining sun, have a brilliant one, and hope to see you very soon.

31 amazing GoodGymers ran over 11km to have a board games night with residents of Redmayne View Care Home.

Jamie was on his 1st GoodGym encounter - what a distance to start on!

Thank you to Bill and Elizabeth for being back runners.

Well done to Neil and Millie for doing their 10th GoodGym good deeds.

On arrival the residents were spread across a few tables with various board games set out including: Buckaroo, Connect4, Kerplunk, Pull My Finger (don't ask haha) and various others.

Michelle cottoned on to Peeing Pup and subsequently started giving facials to everyone, she even got some in my eye.

When I asked Ivy if she wanted to pull my actual finger the told me off for being rude haha. She was also very competitive as when she lost at Buckaroo she threw the pieces across the table in sheer disappointment!

Stephen was in his element when one of the residents let him take her mobility scooter for a spin across the hall way - one thing ticked off his bucket list!

We had about 45 minutes there and we finished up with some soup and a roll. We couldn't stomach the cake so Bill, Robert and Hayley had the task of trying to carry them over 5.5km back to The Forum in one piece.

Next week we're packing fundraising hampers for Break Charity.