7 of us met at Sanctus ready to help wrap some Christmas presents and make up some gift boxes.

Andy and I ran an epic marathon-esque distance from HQ ( around 1km), while Fay and Sallyann walked, and we met Ben, Martin and Leah there as they have just come straight from work.

Claire was there to greet us and set us up and get our production line going. And may i say what a well oiled machine we became with some wrapping, some on box production and some box stuffing. She was even kind enough to make us teas and coffees to keep us hydrated caffeinated.

As we were deeply engrossed in our task (and top chatting) some lovely people arrived with some food donations and on seeing us doing such a good job they realised they had extra minced pies and kindly offered them to us. We politely declined (but not too much) and after a few more offerings we accepted and gobbled them all up with coffee and tea. mmmmmmm minced pies.

With everything wrapped and packed, we cleaned any crumbs off the table, stacked the chairs back and went on our merry ways.

Thanks for coming guys, what would have taken one person all day, just took us 45 mins and great chatting to boot.

Next week we will be clearing leaves at St John's Church Hall

thanks again all

Run Happy

Rich

Hello Chelmsford!

Both our battlecry and the theme of the night's mission. On a freezing Wednesday night we met for a walking tour led by Alan, a bit of a local legend.

Really interesting tour with some highlights below!

• County prison in 1660 was where Toni and Guy now is, presumably where Andy used to go for his crimes against fashion
• Chelmsford is named after Coelmaer's ford, from the Saxon times and that spot is the roundabout outside Tesco!
• From 1-5 July 1381 chelmsford was the capital of England! (Well technically Writtle but Leanne and Jess said that counts as Chelmsford)
• Charles Dickins stayed at the MetroBank, not a Metro at the time but a pub, check out the blue plaque, and clearly lived up to the first four letters of his surname saying after not being able to find a newspaper on a Sunday, "If any one were to ask me what in my opinion was the dullest and most stupid spot on the face of the Earth, I should decidedly say Chelmsford".
• Alan's first blue plaque in Chelmsford was Dr Ben Pugh, just above the Cornish Bakery and there for a legend who helped make Chelmsford one of the first towns to get rid of smallpox and developed a pipe to clear baby's airways after birth which is still recognised today. All some forceps which sounded unpleasant...
• In 1808 there was the great fire of Chelmsford leaving about 11 dead. Glad we don't have private fire brigades now
• Ben studied the difference between a public and a private blue plaque (Marconi on Saracen's Head). Or the drink deals, not sure which took his eye.
• Judge Tindall was the first to use grounds of insanity to not convict someone. I've attempted to use this to my wife when I miss the last train but to no avail
• Only three buildings in England have the same recipe of white stone as the part of the cathedral which retained it after the collapse when they dug a grave too close to a pillar and it all collapsed (sounds like a task GoodGym could have done better!) . The other two aren't as famous as the second smallest cathedral in England - King George Chapel in Windsor and Buckingham Palace

There was also loads more information on the tour - and Alan runs loads of these with the Chelmsford Civic Society. Check them out: https://www.chelmsfordcivicsociety.co.uk/index.html

I will be looking out for the tours of the Shire Hall once permission is received!

Armed with the local knowledge the plan is to use it for our walk and talk sessions to help develop language skills.

Happy running and wrap up warm!

We did our annual foodbank reverse advent calendar collection and got a lovely boot full to donate. Well done everyone who took part, it's for a great cause.

10 GoodGymers made quick work of preparing a bumper crop of leaflets ready for our leaflet drop next week. The leaflets were sorted and folded in no time, which meant we could have a chinwag as we finished our drinks before the run back to HQ!

We will be leafletting along the avenues next week, you can sign up here:

We got on very well! From funnel time checking, to marshaling, to barcode scanning, to tail walking, to stuff I’ve missed, to…whatever it was Andy did… we did a pop up Goodgym at parkrun.

It also had a number of police officers highlighting the important issue of women’s safety on runs, with lots of survey responses collected. And even a woman getting the coveted 001 Parkrun. Incredible pace.

Remember - Goodgym does also do night safety training for men, to better help understand the issues that women have to go through. 97% of women have been harassed while out running and that is unacceptable.