Despite waking to snow on the ground and a yellow weather warning for snow in place in Newcastle today, three hardy Northerners ventured into the Walker area of the city to deliver leaflets for Food Cycle. Food Cycle is one of our regular task owners. They take donated food from supermarkets at the end of the day and turn it into a hot three course meal, available to anyone who needs it. We’re always happy to help them spread the word.

Special kudos to Aimee who rushed out in her lunch hour, leaving behind her “big coat”, gloves and hat! Michael and I were in awe!

250 leaflets delivered in less than an hour. N-ice! And we’re doing it all again in the Felling area of Gateshead next week. Sign up here and fingers crossed for warmer weather! leaflet delivery for Food Cycle in Felling

“It’s only November!” I hear you cry. And November it is but our first festive task of the season was upon us tonight at our Stepney Bank Stables community mission and what a task it was.

A very wet and dark evening didn’t put off new GoodGymer Anna- give her a big welcome! Anna first looked at GoodGym a few years back and finally came to us tonight, immediately getting stuck in with creative flair, hard work and a bit of patience- all needed tonight. Anna and I were joined by GoodGym regulars Aimee, Elliot and Louise for some festive cheer and most excitingly, the first task where we’ve ever used the Stepney Bank Stables lift.

Our task was to build and decorate the enormous Stepney Bank Stables Christmas tree which sounds much easier than it was. Even getting the tree out of the cupboard was a mission in itself!! The branches needed to be sorted into lettered groups before the tree could be built, lights could be detangled and decorations hung. Epic teamwork made this task a breeze, and the finished result was appreciated by the stables staff.

It’s early days, but I think this guarantees us a spot on the Good List.

Bonus Christmas cheers to Louise for the brilliant pun.

Aimee and I formed a twosome for our second task of the week when we completed a speedy lunchtime mission for Mrs T.

Back in March, Aimee and Rae moved a bed downstairs so that Mrs T could safely come home from hospital. Here’s their report as a reminder (https://www.goodgym.org/v3/reports/nothing-really-mattress-goodgym-is-all-we-need).

It was great to hear that Mrs T has improved enough to be able to move back into her bedroom. We were pleased that Aimee’s memory that the bed wasn’t too heavy proved to be correct. Taking the bed and the mattress separately we completed the task quickly - allowing Aimee some spare time in the rest of her lunch break!

Mrs T and her neighbour were delighted and curious to know more about GoodGym. Another example of minimum effort on our part making a big difference to an older person!

Two Goodgymers braved the wet and dreary weather on this Monday evening to help out at Recyke y' bike. Task owner Vanessa was there with the offer of tea and coffee and biscuits.

First we swept the floor to warm up. A standard Recyke y' bike task as the floors get pretty dusty. Then we cut out and hole punched tags for use by the children at Byker primary school for a bike refurbishment program. Louise cut her yellow paper in to neat strips, I had the sparkly Christmas paper with gold birds on and was much more haphazard. We only had one hole punch so came up with an idea to work together and put both pieces of paper in at once one in each end. We quickly completed the task.

If you want to get involved we have two community missions with urban Green coming up at the weekend - this one in Kenton Park on Saturday and this one in Hodgkin Park on Sunday!

Five GoodGymers volunteered at Mowbray Park junior parkrun on a cold, but sunny, Sunday morning, helping 23 junior parkrunners enjoy their run.

Aimee was funnel manager, Richard was run director, while Tanya, Debbie and Michael were cheerful marshals. They helped contribute to a record-breaking number of volunteers at Mowbray Park junior parkrun. Thank you very much for your volunteering efforts, which really helped the event take place.

Many hot drinks and pastries were consumed afterwards and many words of chat were spoken, contributing to a delightful morning. Michael even managed to find his way back to his car afterwards without getting lost.

On a cold but calm Monday evening in Newcastle, three GoodGymers enjoyed a pleasant stroll around Ouseburn and the Quayside picking up litter as they went. After a slow start, the amount of litter started to pile up, including a pair of jump leads for a car hidden behind a bus stop.

The conversation ranged from parkrun to Scottish holidays and everything inbetween, including the Kielder Half Marathon and the Chicago Marathon.

Hopefully we made a small difference in making Newcastle look a little tidier.