On a cool evening 6 of us met outside the Old Factory Gym and set off towards St Mary's church in Broomfield.

Tonights task was to help them with some gardening and clearing some paving and walls.

Running at prime chatting pace we were soon there and met by Fay, David, Laurie and Sallyann already hard at work.

Martin, Ben and Joe quickly got to work raking and turning the soil by the church while Erin and Andy joined David scrubbing weeds and soil off the boundary wall. Although Erin got a great bit of 'mansplaining' of how she should being doing it by a passerby, lol. This was quickly put to rest by the fabulous group of gardening volunteers asking that we don't do as the passerby had said. (double lol)

With things packed away we were invited inside for drink and biscuits ( thank you ), then the runners were off back to base, and again at prime chatty pace we were soon back.

Well done all and hope to see you next week for some leafleting

Run Happy

Rich

With Joel and Andy in sombre black, and David and Andy in shiny new running shoes, we set off to Broomfield for our task along the bunny walks.

We got to Broomfield Methodist Church, finding that they were starting band practice at 7pm and our contact wasn't there. Following a confused phone call, it emerged that we were actually supposed to be at St Mary's Church, thankfully only around 1/2 a mile away. David sped off, not wanting to waste precious task time, and met Becca along the way too. Joe managed to find us too, getting to us in 4 minutes rather than his estimated 10 and therefore maintaining his fastest current Goodgymer status.

Our task owners David and Roger had wheelbarrows and tools ready for us, along with a promise of refreshments at the end. We spent our time weeding around new-ish planted trees at the edge of the church yard, with a view of the sunset over the fields.

After filling at least 6 wheelbarrows with weeds, we were treated to a selection of cordials and biscuits so good that we loitered in the church yard eating and drinking rather than setting off for our run back.

See you all soon,

Laurie

Well, I can tell you we did and 200 trees can quench their thirst tonight!

And it was another glorious evening of running and physical work to lug full watering cans from a makeshift wheelbarrow refill station to the sapling trees. A relay of straining arms muscles and pumping legs spontaneously broke out as, in true Goodgymer style, I saw the glint in the eyes of the team with total determination to complete the task.

The team from the church supported us with refills both for the trees and for us - the lemon squash under the walnut tree was most welcome. A treemendous effort from all. The 200 trees were donated by the Woodland Trust as part of the jubilee.

Rewinding to the run and the group set a great pace and powered up to St Mary Church in Broomfield. The unofficial 'most colourful leggings' prize was easily won by Becca. Perhaps Saucony will produce a Rainbow T-Shirt for those who reach 500 good deeds?!! And are there enough colourful running clothes for men? And if there were would you buy and wear them?!

Our return run had a pleasant accompanying breeze and everyone was pleased with a decent distance to log on Strava and a job well done.

Come along to Marks Hall Parkrun on Saturday or just bring some food for a picnic afterwards and also the Essex Pride event is still open for volunteers!