It was Ben's third GoodGym session, and for the first time it didn't rain. He also got to meet our other Ben, who's almost at 50 good deeds!!

Fay, Leanne, and Ben D walked, whilst the rest of us took a slightly longer route, all joining up at Tesco. After starting off along a surprisingly clear area, we then found an interesting combination of empty beer bottles, a fork, and a baby doll.

We discussed our planning session for the future of GoodGym Chelmsford, of course involving food. Big thanks to Andy and Jen for volunteering their help on the night.

Best of luck to Russell, David and Richard E (apologies if I've missed anyone!) for Chelmsford half this weekend.

And most importantly, thank you to Fay for everything over the past three years. You've kept us all in check, and we're really going to miss you being as big a part as you have been.

See you all soon,

Laurie

We met just inside the doors of the gym and it would appear i forgot how to use them. After blindly slapping at the exit door I eventually made it in to get the pickers and bags.

Three of us set off for a run, and two for a walk. It was very chilly and windy but we were warmed by talk of Ben bringing brownies to a run in the future - his baking showstopper. He's also looking forward to Nigella on bakeoff, as am I, purely for baking reasons of course. Hearing about Martin's 5 marathons in 5 days this easter(!!), we hit a deep deep unpassable patch of water which held us up.

We met up with the two litter picker carriers and headed further down the bunny walks in search of litter. Andy was complaining he is still snowed under opening all his Valentine's gifts and cards, while Sallyann was more upset she hadn't realised today was Global Drink Wine Day!

We picked two bags of litter and two of us (me and Ben) lost fingers to frostbite. We posed for a quick photo as it seems I wanted to show off my thumb...

Anyway, good work for the four of you to brave the weather and hopefully one day people stop littering.

Congrats to all who came out, and a special cheer to Ben on coming to his very first Goodgym group run on what could only be described as a night "wetter than an otters pocket." Well done Ben, hopefully the first of many.

With Fay and Sallyann walking with bags, Richard, Andy, Ben and I had a short run around the back of the uni and along the bunnywalks (which isn't flooded now) and met up en route to continue with the picking. With the driving rain it was difficult to see, especially if you wear glasses, so another big congrats to all as it was difficult to spy those small pieces of rubbish hiding in the grass and hedges.

Once we were soaked through and hands started to shiver we called it a day and made our way back to base and posed for some photos (sorry for them being blurry), said our goodbyes and went home to warm up and have a well deserved dinner.

Thanks for coming all, and thanks for making Chelmsford that little bit nicer.

and remember

Run Happy

Rich

A crack team of determined GoodGymers overcame adversity to clear two bags of litter from the streets of Chelmsford.

Richard braved a squeam-inducing injury he sustained a few days earlier, Fay shook off illness and Jen battled through traffic to join the group.

The runners met Fay by the river where we started our litter picking duties.

As the night got colder and darker, Jane and Andy made everyone jealous with plans for breaks in warmer climes, while Martin wondered if there were any GoodGym groups in Scotland. Apparently not.

After finding the south of the river surprisingly tidy, the group crossed a bridge so new that it doesn’t appear on Google Maps’ satellite view and struck litter gold around the Meadows car park, with cans and bottles carefully extracted from hedges.

Good work everyone!

After a late change of task, a small but perfectly formed group of GoodGymers removed a bag of rubbish from the streets of Chelmsford.

With the GoodGym tasks starting to get an autumnal chill, Richard and Sallyann sensibly turned up in several layers. Martin did not.

The Brook Street car park and footpath towards the river proved a fertile testing ground for a new double handed approach to litter picking, with a grabber in each hand, and the trio’s efforts were rewarded with compliments from passing cyclists.

The group binned an airplane and several bottles of dubious looking liquid but drew the line at two abandoned bikes, before debating when it was acceptable to turn the heating on at home (the correct answer is: when the clocks go back).

Look forward to seeing everyone at next week’s task. Don’t forget to wrap up warm!

7 of us met as usual on a lovely summers eve ready to do some good. Unfortunately Hearing help Essex had to cancel as they weren't ready for us, so we decided to do a litter pick instead.

The shout went out on the socials and Leanne had suggested Arun park as in need of a bit of TLC. Fay and Sallyann kindly offered to walk with the litter pickers and bags while the rest of had a little run along the avenues.

We met by the playground and got stuck in and in no time we had filled 2 bags and managed to chat the entire time ( who would have thought). And just as we were about to leave a member of Springfield football club asked if we could pose for a photo outside their club house. Obvs, we jumped at the chance and hopefully will be partnering up with them in the future for some more good deeding.

Thanks all for coming and hope to see some of you at the beer festival on Friday or parkrun this weekend

Run Happy

Rich