July signals Chelmsford GoodGym's birthday, and this year it's been 8 years since we first started! As is tradition, we celebrated by going to the Chelmsford Beer and Cider Festival. All of us sampled the delights of different beers and ciders, other than Sallyann who stuck to her pints of wine! Andy had a puncture en route but didn't let that stop him, he had to get to the festival to compare Hawaiian shirts with Rich and Russell. Ben tried his hand (very successfully) at axe throwing, while Laurie was more excited by the chocolate churros. Fay was very taken with Caroline's doggy Bella who came along for some ear scratches and lucked out when some chips fell her way. We were really lucky with the weather and even managed to get some seats so it was a successful evening all round. We need to get our thinking caps on for our next social now, any suggestions let us know!

“Lack of dedication.” “They look like they don’t want to be there.” “A tragic collection of individual high performers.”

England – now we know how you feel at the Euros. A boiling evening on the Costa del Chelmsford saw nine GoodGym members arrive hot and sweaty before we’d even started.

Setting off to the top of Broomfield (why is it so far uphill?) for some weeding and path chipping, David led out at a gentle pace while Team Walk became Team Drive/Carry Your Water. Fay's car probably has air conditioning too. Not fair.

Broomfield was alive with people enjoying the sun – including a group who clapped us as we jogged past. We were going slowly because of the heat rather than to enjoy the applause – honest! It’s the kind of support Angela could have done with on her 30 mile fundraising hike last week.

As we arrived, Joe and David debated the proper name for the wooden arch at the churchyard entrance but could only come up with “definitely not a shed.” At least the ideas to rename the pub being refurbished next door were better. Maybe we could add The Old Testament to the October social route…

The team got stuck into murdering giant spiky plants and shovelling woodchip onto the new pathways. Sallyann decided it would be easier to lay the chippings if she was on the other side of said giant spiky plants, so hurdled the hedge and made a neat and tidy job of it.

Because David did such a good job of naming the not-a-shed, Laurie decided to bounce baby name ideas off Fay instead. Lots didn’t make the cut – David Junior, or DJ for short – but we’ve all marked our calendars to meet little Prince Chatterjee.

Andy had clearly taken notes and reckoned it’d be easier to ‘help’ by lifting and tipping the full barrow rather than shovelling it onto the ground. A good idea in theory, but less great when he ended up dumping the woodchip all over the shrubs. Even worse, he did this just after Sallyann had managed to pick her way out of the thicket.

Maybe it was fighting the thorns or maybe he misread GoodGym in the heat, but Martin was a fully scratched-up member of BloodGym by the end of the task. He looked like he’d gone 12 rounds with a feisty kitten on Red Bull, but there’s nothing that Broomfield’s trademark orange squash can’t fix.

A 10k beer trail run is the next session (no pun intended) and despite the heat being the perfect excuse for not winning or beating David, Russell decided to wait until the last minute to bail on us. More GoodGym members are marshalling the Havens Hospices Race4Business on 3 July, and there’s a pub quiz on Sunday 7 July at the Ale House.

Stay cool and run happy 😎

Joe

A slightly longer run than usual saw 8 Legends meet up at our HQ and begin our journey out to Broomfield and St Mary's church. Tonights task was to put woodchips down along a path between a hedge row and a fence running along the side of th church.

In no time at all we had reached the church and met Fay and Sallyann who had walked there and then we broke into 2 teams of 5.

With some shoveling into the wheelbarrows, some moving and tipping the chips and others raking the woodchips along the path, it would appear to the casual observer that this seemed to be a well oiled machine.... and that we know what we are doing.

So much so, that time flew by and we managed to get a great deal done before getting stuck into some well deserved biscuits and squash (I may have had more than one biscuit but who's counting).

With bellies full and satisfied with a job well done we set off and made our way back to base.

Next week we are back at St Johns church on Moulsham street ( if you fancy a shorter run).

Thanks all for coming

Run Happy

Rich

We headed out into the misty morning to do our semi-frequent volunteer at Parkrun. When we arrived, welcoming Chris back, some of us gushed over the incredible northern lights we saw last night, others over the rum and coke/ star wars marathon (Angela). Fay was incredulous that Martin had chosen to keep his legs covered up for once.

We headed out to our assigned tasks, with me being sad that Paul didn't fall off the bike, although not sure I know how to ride one still anyway, and went to cheer on the runners. We all completed our tasks with aplomb - special shoutout to Laura making her Parkrun debut.

Heading to the traditional Spoons for brekky, Andy and Martin leapt at the chance of a second breakfast, with Andy moaning he was forced into ordering toast by....himself.

Good work, have a nice weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

After a brief discussion on the best way to Beaulieu Community Centre, we set off with Joel leading out in the sunshine. We mostly worked it out along the way, apart from some confusion over what sort of looked like a path, but felt more like an uneven grass verge next to a busy road.

We found Fay and Sallyann with cloths and buckets in hand, so the rest of the group picked up sponges and cloths to clean every possible surface in the Heath Room, ahead of the Centre's open day this Sunday.

David went straight in whilst everyone else loitered for a short period, but his work clearly wasn't evident as the window he cleaned first was cleaned at least twice more by other members of the group.

Best use was made of Andy's and Joe's heights, by asking them to clean the tops of windows, whilst Martin and Nisar took the two sponges and did a great job of cleaning up the marked walls.

I spotted a couple of cobwebs on the ceiling, so suggested Rich and Joe give them a good swipe with their cloths, which ended up more of a posing opportunity for Rich than actual cleaning (followed by another posing opportunity with David and a dustpan and broom).

We finished with a lovely group photo, and then thought we were leaving Fay and Sallyann to walk home. Much to our dismay (mostly Andy, David, and Rich) they popped around the corner for chips on the way, whilst the rest of us were at Andy's mercy for his choice of the running route back.

We didn't let it dampen our spirits too much, and we took a celebratory photo with Nisar in his lovely new red t-shirt, before heading home for our less fun dinners than Fay and Sallyann had.

Great work everyone! Let's hope we get invited back to Beaulieu Community Centre for more tasks.

See some of you at parkrun on Saturday for volunteering, and the rest of you on a run soon.

Laurie