Another lovely day in Cardiff as 10 volunteers got together to Get Active and Do Good.

Tonight, we had 7 runners from our start location, 1 cyclist and 2 walkers. It was a lovely evening to be out and about helping, and we had a celebration too.

Jonathan hit a milestone as we celebrated 50 good deeds.

Big Congratulations

As always, we arrived at Samye to smiles and a table of water, just what you want after a lovely run. We had a quick chat whilst rehydrating and catching our breath. Then it was time to get busy and help, there was a list of tasks and a group of willing volunteers - the perfect combination.

They had been very busy indeed since our last visit to Samye and were part way through a build of what will be a lovely pond. They had broken through the brick, rubble and dug down, piling it all around the sides. Still tome to do in the middle, which we could also help with if there was time, but for now the most important thing was to help, tidy up and move those heavy bags. After all, many hands make light work.

Our tasks for the evening.

• Put all the rubble into sacks
• Move around to the side of the building
• Vacuum hall, stairs and office in building 252
• Sweep up around the pond
• Sand the wall around the new fire door

It was all go, Dylan went straight to his friend HENRY to clean up that building. Imy and Natasha got their sand on, shimmying and shaking around the door frame. The rest of us, well it was manic - spades moving rubble and soil into sacks, people carrying bricks, moving bags once full....a little more of the pond was also dug out. After 30 minutes of good old hard work, the pond was looking good, and we had certainly "Done GOOD".

We popped inside for a bit of a social and a little soup, before heading back to the city.

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Tonight was a special run in Cardiff, as we celebrated Darren on his very special

200th Task

This can mean only ONE thing, it's time for the CAPE

We had our usual mix of groups tonight, with some walkers and joggers and a couple running like the wind - that's the power of the cape! We were heading out to help at the Samye foundation again, and as usual they had prepared a list for us.

• Move a plinth from the hall to the shed
• Move containers from the office into the attic
• Change the posters in the display cabinets
• Vacuum building 252 with good ol' Henry
• Wash the ground floor outside windows and ledges
• Put out all rubbish and recycling.

Thankfully there was a good number of us tonight, as 13 volunteers got active and cleared the list of tasks in good time. Dylan and Henry became great friends as the floor and stairs were spotless. Darren and Andrew vanished into the attic along with the containers. Imy and Natasha got artistic with the poster displays - looking great. Emma, Aimee and Ellen moved the plinth in the blink of an eye. Lucy cleaned the mirror until you could see your face in it......wait, hold on a minute???? And then it was all hands to the windows, and ledges, Su, Martin, Llion and anyone else that was free joined to get rid of those smears...Ready for some filming I believe.

We even had time for an additional task as Darren donning his cape, mopped the hall until it was sparkling clean. We got together for some soup and soon to follow on the run - soup stitch. A great evening had by all, thanks you wonderful lot.

On a night where the air was biting at our ankles, an impressive 13 goodgymers braved the weather for the Cardiff January Challenge.

We were back to the Samye Foundation, our last visit was decorating for Xmas... except for Michael and Darren who managed to pop along for their Fayre. Tonight would be very different though, and would soon warm up the group.

We were in three groups tonight, the walkers led by Michael, the runners led by Darren and Adam and the third group, still running but a shorter distance.

We arrived and got straight to work, no standing still in these temperatures. The 3 Xmas trees had to go back into the loft, there were tables and chairs to rearrange, bags and bags of rubble, wheelbarrows of rubbish and an array of tile bits to pick up.

Out came the lights and gloves for safety, we split into groups and got busy, so busy in fact that we managed to finish off the tasks with enough time to get a bit of vacuuming done too.

Tools down, warm up.

We popped inside for a catch up and some snacks, more water (hydration is important even in the cold).

We are nicely on track for our target of 100 deeds in January, but a few more km needed, so don’t forget to get Strava going on your walks, runs or bike rides. NEXT week we will be splitting into ploggers and litter pickers to tackle the City Centre. Get signed up here. We are also heading for food afterwards but need to book so you will have to sign up to this too

Unlucky for some, but not SAMYE as 13 goodgymers got together on a chilly evening to volunteer their time and get active. Split into groups, walkers, runners and cyclists we made our way to help our friends one last time for 2023.

The cyclists meeting us at the task as they made their own way, Nathan leading the runners from our start location, with Michael taking the walkers for a jaunty stroll through the city.

But before we head our ways, we have just enough time to . . . .

Welcome Neda

We arrived at Samye and headed straight into the warmth, as usual our tasks were listed on the white board;

• Move the glass bookshelves from library to cafe.
• Get the bookshelves out of the loft and put together.
• Clear out under the stairs, putting everything into the magnolia room.
• Get Christmas trees out of the loft and set them all up.

TO WORK

we split into teams to tackle each of the tasks, as a team vanished up into the loft, and one under the stairs. Once the stairs had been cleared everyone split into 3 tree groups to tackle the most important tasks of all.

Finally, all trees were ready and in their positions. Whilst the goodgym crew sat down to some food Michael ran around getting photos of those trees.

Thanks to everyone for coming out tonight, and a BIG thank you to SAMYE for their continued support of goodgym and all of our members.

Join us next week for the very last goodgym group task of 2023.

A couple of last minute arrivals, a change of task because of a change in weather... It's all go with goodgym tonight.

As it was a nice evening it was decided to get our paint on... But not until we rock the bin bag look.

On the metal arch, with a very drippy gloss one coat paint were Cecil, Dylan and Sophie. Trying their best not to splatter the floor as they went.

In the office, painting a very lovely mellow yellow wall was Holly and Su. Fans blasting to keep them cool.

And last but by no means least, on the vacuuming duty on the stairs.... The one and only Jihaad.

Our 30 minutes flew by and it was time for a few sandwiches and crisps whilst catching up with our friends at Samye.

Our run tonight, a nice 2.5km each way (sandwiched with the task) for a good total of 5km. The group at the front led by Michael, on a speedy finish. And our chatty group with Su have a lovely time.

A great way to spend a Tuesday, fun friends, fitness and volunteering.

Two start locations again tonight, our newest start option at the Daffodil in the City Centre where seven plucky goodgymers met. We left at 18:30 for a nice pleasant jog through the park and over to what used to be our start location - Sport Wales National Centre, where we picked up another 2 goodgymers. Our final two for the evening where to meet us at the task, so no time to waste chatting - lets continue the walk / jog and get to Samye.

We arrived at the Samye Foundation with plenty of time to spare, which was good as tonight was the registration for the VERY popular Cosmeston Relay Race (Sells out within 30 minutes!)

Our first few minutes were spent clicking away online, hoping to get through in time, as ALL joggers and runners in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan tried to do the same.

TENSE

At last, everyone was in and it was time to get to our task for the evening. Tonight was going to be some hard volunteering.

• The old path slabs were to be removed, so that some new fruit trees could be planted
• The Soil that used to house all the shrubs needed some heavy digging and leveling
• There was compost to carry from the front of the building to the back
• An array of plant pots needed to be filled with the compost
• Some of the remaining shrubs needed a heavy prune

The task was a good old workout, all in aid of the upcoming open day that they will be having at Samye later in the year. A new double width path will be laid on all of our hard work, accessible to wheelchairs, planting with new fruit trees and some smaller plants to help bring in those pollinators and look spectacular.

After all that volunteering, the soup and sandwiches that the lovely lot had put on were a much welcome sight. I'm sure we will be back soon to help out with more, this seems like a big job.

Until next time.....