HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY.............

Yay!!!!!! We're 1 year old. Yep thats right, Bexley Goodgym has been running, getting people fit and doing good deeds around Bexley for a whole year. So tonight was a special night for Bexley Goodgym. Unfortunately it fell the day after the big half marathon event in London so a few of our runners were feeling a little sore and decided to rest up (can't say i blame you). However that didn't stop us getting a great group together to head out to one of our fav places 'The Danson Centre'. This evenings task was to help clear up all the rock salt that was lying around from the Beast from the East last week. We then moved over to the astro turf to get rid of the Moss that was starting to take over the edges of the pitch. Because of sore legs and a couple of lite injuries from yesterdays half marathon, and the fact that his was quite hard work with scraping, brushing and lifting we decide to carry on an extra 15 mins instead of putting in a fitness session this week. As a trainer i do sometimes show signs of compassion and kindness :-) (it won't happen again). Finishing just in time for closing at the centre, we packed up all the tools and made for a steady jog back round to base camp Crooklog. It was here that no shame was shown as we sang Happy Birthday to ourselves......... Thanks everyone for all your help and support this past year. I hope you will all continue to head over to Crooklog every Monday and continue with your running, fitness and volunteering for another year and beyond. Have an awesome Week. Tim

Eleven runners ran 6km to help Harlesden Town Gardens

On a dark November night, 8 runners met up at the Queensbury to set off on a 2 mile run over to Harlesden Town Gardens. We found runner Meg, and task leader Gabriel waiting for us with a welcoming bonfire already blazing steadily in the pit that GoodGym Brent runners had helped create in a previous task – great to see it being put to good use!

Dinesh and Dimple arrived shortly after the main group after having just missed us at the Queensbury, but luckily their navigation skills and nous led them to the heart of the action around the glowing fire.

We quickly formed a branch-busting bunch to saw up logs to keep the fire fuelled, and a marshmallow-skewering and toasting, sparkler-twizzling support group to keep them motivated. Claire had sadly underestimated the enthusiasm and marshmallow chomping capacity of GG Brent runners, and one pack of those fluffy sugar and gelatine clouds just wasn’t enough to go around, so Joe and Uthman saved the day by running to the corner shop to re-stock so we had enough to make smores (marshmallow and chocolate, sandwiched between two digestive biscuits, wrapped in foil and toasted in the fire, for the uninitiated!).

It’s great to see how the Town Gardens are evolving, and Gabriel told us about Friends of Harlesden Town Garden’s future plans to build a clubhouse there, here is the link if you’d like to cast a vote to support their funding bid:

https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/voting/project/view/17-4315

It was so cosy round the fire that it was hard to leave, especially after all the sugary indulgence – but somehow we managed to tear ourselves away and get back to the Queensbury again, I don’t know about everyone else, but the hills felt a bit steeper on the way back…!?

You Guys were ace, thanks for coming, great to see your faces!