Amir, Samina, Tabitha, Liz, Josh. and Pete met at Beer n Burger, we were to meet Beatriz at Brent Mencap. It was Amir's first Goodgym so a warm welcome to Amir from Goodgym Brent. Liz was also returning for a one off session from the wild's of south London so a warm welcome to her too, our previous run leader. Liz did the warm up, then Josh lead the jog with Tabitha back-marking about 1k to Brent Mencap,where we met Beatriz. Tabitha briefed us on the work to do in the Brent Mencap garden. We moved the heavy garden table and chairs off the gravel area, raked and brushed the gravel, using the tools provided, covered over the showing black asphalt, swept the paths, re-distributed the gravel, then replaced all the table and chairs, in neat order. Very luckily the rain held off! Beatriz left, Pete lead the jog back and lead the cool-down, then we had a quick drink and collected our stuff from the kind B & B staff who had kept it safe for us. Well done everyone 👏, until next week.

On Monday Nash, Samina, Pete and Tabitha ran to Brent Mencap where we were promised mountains of shredding.... and there definitely was!! Three huge boxes were waiting for us. We split into two teams with the Men Manning the Shredders and the ladies preparing the sheets and clearing the waste.

We thought it would be a never ending task however with our team work we managed to complete all the shredding in the session. Grate work! ;-)

We emptied the bags into the recyling bin and jogged back to our meeting point for a well deserved drink.

On Monday, Goodgym Brent ran to Brent Mencap to help sort a cupboard full of fun and games.

Mencap provides local residents with a place to meet and socialise and they have a stack of games that needed checking. We were happy to help and removed all the games , checked all the pieces and parts were there , gave the shelves a wipe and re stacked the games in a sensible order .

We then completed a short HIIT session before jogging back to Willesden . Great work team !

The fabulous foursome of Tabitha, Samina, Lee and Josh set off adventuring from Brent Mencap on the brisk Monday evening. Not before celebrating Tabitha's 250th good gym, which she showed up in style in 5 different good gym shirts. One shirt each to represent 50 missions she completed. With no injuries to report, hands full with hundreds of flyers advertising the range of activities being put on at the Mencap particularly targeting the socially isolated. With multiple pages to be delivered to each door, it took a partnership of folding and delivering between them all. The team wrapped up with a light jog back to Beer & Burger to finish the night with a drink and hot chips.

A small group of Tabitha, Pete, Lee & Josh converged outside Beer & Burger ready to warm up. Exhaling plumes of smoke as the air reacted to the negative temperatures.

A needed light jog down to Brent Mencap to get the blood flowing where Samina was waiting patiently doing her own set of squats keeping warm. We welcomed Beatriz to their first good gym Brent session before Becca arrived to round off the group.

Half the team kept warm by running down and around Gladstone Park. Whilst the other half completed the final session off shredding copious reeves of paper. With shredders who are temperamental at best, but deliver a wondrous job with a little care and affection. The team embraced the workload with time available for a group Hiit to wrap up the session. A number of unique and new Hiit movements suggested and embraced, only best delivered to certain tunes such as Eye of the Tiger.

A final short jog back to Beer & Burger to celebrate the past birthdays of the month!

Goodgym Brent met in Willesden for the first Monday Brent Goodgym of 2024, it was on the coldest day of the year so far . As we gathered, only one hero remembered gloves – note to self: gloves are as essential as enthusiasm.

After a warm-up that felt more like a survival tactic, we ran 2 km to Brent Mencap's office. There were two tasks so we split into two teams : clean and shred . Samina and Lee were the shred team and had files of confidential waste to shred , ready to recycle . Tabitha , Josh and Pete were Team Clean and they wiped bannisters and mopped the stairs .

Time flew and in no time at all we were ready to call it a day, posed with the four huge bags of shredded material , and jogged back to willesden green for a well deserved drink and portion of chips . Great work everyone !