Tonight, we were back at the West End Refugee Service finishing off the cupboard tidy which 6 goodgymers led by Charlotte started last week. Well done to Tom and Sam who were super dedicated and helped both weeks!

Task owner Hazel met us and gave us an introduction to WERS, what we were going to be doing and were the gloves and hand sanitiser was.

The aim was sorting through donations which have being sitting there during lockdown and sort them into bags of different types of items (ladies tops, mens bottoms, mixed baby clothes etc), removing any damp or damaged goods.

Tom who was familiar with where the donations were from the week before led the charge pulling out bags of unsorted donations out the cupboard for us to root through and put in the most appropriate bag, which we labelled a swe went along.

Dan found a very fetching hat. Me and Louise debated the use of a donations of an M&S uniform. Michael was having loads of fun with various random things he found. We all felt sad we could only find one tiny Gruffalo welly and wondered were the other one could possibly be!

Once everything was correctly sorted, we moved all the suitable and sorted donations back inside as last weeks group had filled the garage. We also put all the unsuitable item back in the cupboard so they could be collected to be binned.

Hazel was very happy we managed to finish sorting all the donations and how commented how much time it saved compared to having one person sort through all the donations. Hopefully we will be back to help out again soon!

Tonight we helped out at the West End Refugee service which relies on volunteers to help it run.

A huge congratulations to Sabrina on her first ever GoodGym good deed tonight and first Community Mission. Also a massive well done to Sam for achieving her 25th good deed tonight. Go and give them both a cheer!

Sabrina arrived first, followed by Sam and Tom, then Debbie and Abbi on their bikes (extra kudos to Abbi who had some trouble with her bike but made it there!)

We were met by Hazel, who gave us a brief introduction, had everything so well organised and clearly explained the task.

The service has struggled over lockdown with a lack of volunteers. We were shown to an outdoor cupboard which was piled high with donations.

There was bags of donated clothing, bedding and a whole range of other items which desperately needed sorting.

We soon got stuck in sorting through the donations and putting them into different piles, then bagging/labelling them up.

Unfortunately some of the items had to be binned as they were damp/unsuitable to be donated.

We managed to clear a large amount from the cupboard, which was then neatly stored in the large garage next door.

There is still a lot more to do, but Hazel thanked us for our efforts. We look forward to returning next Wednesday!

Schooool's out for Summer!

We had a great turn out last night for our return visit to West End Refugee Service in the sunshine. A mixture of summery weather, the start of the holidays and a great task meant 25 of us turned out ready to head up to the West End of our brilliant city. It was so lovely to see Charlotte who had come along just to say hi to everyone as she's currently on crutches and out of action while she awaits scan results. Good luck Charlotte, we are all rooting for you!

We welcomed a few new runners to the group: Louise's son Dan who is home from uni for the Summer, and a 'new' Louise ready to smash her first every GoodGym task! Welcome to you both, we can't wait to see you again! Go and give them both a big cheer to say hello.

It was another big black and white cloaked celebration this week as awesome Task Forcer and social secretary Evan celebrated his 51st good deed, smashing 50 in the process of a double mission weekender at Pride. As well as achieving his black tshirt in just 10 months, Evan arranges a social catch up every single week for GoodGym Newcastle and provides us with the best (weirdest) photos at every run, and for all of this we salute him.

Hero !

It was a Pride-filled catch up as we shared weekend news including Andrew, Evan and Dan's amazing 4th place at the Newcastle Frontrunners relay on Friday night, and two great Community Missions where everyone got drenched on Saturday, and lots of treasures were found at Sunday's litter pick. We recapped the rules of Rock, Paper, Scissors as our warm up - who knew this was such a minefield?!- then set off to the task.

I did feel a little bad that for Dan and Louise, their first ever run with us was up a hill in 22 degrees into a headwind, but it was obvious they were made of strong stuff. We chatted about our favourite holiday destinations and before we knew it we were at West End Refugee Service.

This great service is tucked away in the West End of Newcastle, quite close to Nunsmoor Park for those who are familiar with our regular monthly mission. We were met by Sean and Hannah who talked us through the great services offered by WERS to support refugees living in our community, and set our list of tasks for the night. This time we were tasked with:

• Chopping back a hedge

• Sorting through cutlery and making them into sets

• General kitchen and office cleaning

• Litter picking (you wouldn't believe how fast Maddy and Miranda wanted to do this!)

• Garden tidy up and grass cutting

We had our first EVER medical incident as we think a horsefly decided to feast on new runner Louise. Louise was on hand to check her over and Kate and Emma came to her rescue to take her back to Hotel Indigo for an early finish. Louise finished the night with a swollen eye but otherwise ok, and we can't wait to welcome her back next week. Big thanks to everyone who helped, it's definitely handy having a doctor in our group!

I wish I could give you all an extra good deed.

Hannah and Sean our task owners were so pleased with everything we managed to achieve as we gave WERS a massive makeover in just 45 minutes. We posed for a few photos with our AWESOME NEW FLAG (check it out!) then headed off to the area we have started to call The Triangle for our fitness session, with Paul finding us a new sneaky and quick route there. Everyone was "IN" for the fitness session tonight, with just Paul and Tom taking a break to intervene in a road rage incident that was going on by the side of the road - never a dull moment this week, eh? We got our sprints on with a Tibata session of 20 second all-out sprints and 40 seconds recovery. There was an epic battle between Dan and Louise, while Paul showed off some amazing technique in his efforts- check out the photos!

It was a night full of buzz (ahem) and banter, and a brilliant time was had by all.

If you can't wait for our Group Run next week why not join us at one of the Community Missions taking place on Saturday at Nunsmoor Park or St Lawrence Park ?

Have a brilliant week full of running, walking and doing good things,

Anji x

We were almost late tonight because Paul was rescuing a seagull trapped in a bus stop.. in his GoodGym tshirt!

The sun shone on a brand new task for GoodGym Newcastle tonight with a visit to West End refugee service which is a charity that relies on of volunteers to provide support to asylum seekers and refugees in a friendly environment. One of the task owners present tonight has been with the service in for the whole 20 years since it began! Another big turn out gathered at Hotel Indigo raring to go.

We started with a big cheer for Louise as she celebrated her 50th Good Deed tonight. She was every inch the Flying Doctor as she swooshed around in the Geordie Cloak of Good Deeds on a bit of a breezy night! We said a huge GG HELLO to newcomers Hannah, Simon and Lauren and hoped they had a brilliant first time at #GGNCL Lots of cheerful announcements including finding out Evan had ALSO rescued a bird in the last few days, a warm up game of Rock Paper Scissors and it was time to go.

Routemaster Pro Paul guided us up the never ending hill of Westgate Road and in a flash we were at WERS, a hidden gem tucked away next to a church. We were met with juice and smiles and given a little background about the amazing work done by the charity. Before long we were split off into tasks and on to the jobs in hand.

• Cutting back hedges

• Clearing and weeding paths

• Shredding paper

• Hoovering

• Cleaning an office

• Sorting through donated books and bric a brack

• Sweeping paths and clearing litter

It seemed like everyone had a task they loved tonight and even managed to look super-important in safety goggles. Check out the vintage mug Andrew and Nick found in the bushes too! What a treasure to find! There was also a bottle of Joop which transported me instantly back to 1998. Evan managed to find some friends for his I love my friends photo and absolutely everyone got stuck into their individual jobs in hand. Look at Harry working his Library Pose- that's one for Waterstone's online catalogue surely! The task owners were so amazed by what we managed to get done in 40 minutes that we hadn't even left before we were invited back, so watch this space for a return task date.

We haven't been to Summerhill Park for ages to it was brilliant to be back for the Fitness Session tonight, a bumper pair of games to show off our competitive sides, get the heart rate up and basically chase each other around in the name of GoodGym. The only disappointment seemed to come when the final game was declared a draw!

WE NEEDED VICTORY!

There are TWO great Community Missions this weekend for Newcastle Parks. Saturday at St Lawrence Park, and Sunday at Harbottle Park. Get involved if you can... we always get biscuits!

Have a super week everyone, see you for our return visit to Live Theatre next Monday.

Anji x