It was another beautiful night for a Goodgym task – which was a good thing as we were outside, once again supporting The Wildlife Trust with their community garden project. It was great to be back there tonight with Andy, who gave us another warm welcome.

As always, we had two groups this evening, our running group and our walking group. Karen & Nigel enjoyed a walk together, while Annaliza, Maurice & Nicola went for a run. We overlapped the two groups for the start of the walk/run and took the opportunity to visit the Knife Angel that is currently displayed in Crewe. It was quite a sight.

As Nigel & Karen headed off for their walk, the rest us set off for our run. We did a circular route, heading out from the Knife Angel on the Memorial Square, down towards the cemetery and then back up through the town. It was 2.4km in total and got the old heart rate up! We had a nice chat as we went and managed to come back alive (which isn’t always a given when Maurice is with us… he has a love of running in front of cars!!!).

Back at base, we set to work with Andy in cutting down all the bamboo. It was a continuation of the work we did there last time but this time, we managed to finish cutting it all down and cleared the area (not including the roots….. eeek!). It was quite fascinating cutting down the bamboo, especially looking at the younger branches, which were super bendy and would have made perfect fishing poles! It was quite a physical task, but it was rewarding to see the end results. We also assembled and filled 3 bird boxes which we then attached to the windows – we hope that the service users will enjoy watching the birds feed from them when they’re at the centre.

After quite a physical task, we all felt we’d earned a drink, so headed off to Hops for a bit of refreshment. We chatted about lots of things… parkrun escapades and Goodgym socials being the main topic of conversation (of course, lol!).

Well done everyone. Another fantastic night’s work completed! A real team effort with fantastic results!

You’re all incredible!

See you all soon. Lots of love, Nicola xxx

I really do love these summer evenings…. Light nights and the smell of freshly cut grass. It’s even better when you’re enjoying it while out on a run with your lovely Goodgym buddies.

Tonight, we were small in numbers but what we lacked in quantity, we made up for in effort… didn’t we Maurice?. We were at the Lighthouse Centre tonight, helping to clean the kitchen. The Lighthouse serves many people in the local community, in various capacities and the kitchen plays an integral part in the work they do. They are due an inspection from public health (I think that’s the name) anytime now, so they just wanted us to give the kitchen a bit of TLC.

But, before getting stuck in, Maurice and I headed out for our evening run. We covered 2.25 miles (3.6km) in total. We headed down Alton Street to the park, did a reverse sort of a parkrun and then headed back. Maurice put me to shame as usual…. I looked like a beetroot upon our return!

Back at the Lighthouse and we got stuck in with our cleaning duties. We cleared all the shelving and gave it a good clean. With plenty of elbow grease, some water, cloths, and a couple of scourers, we set to work and soon had the job done. On first inspection, the shelves didn’t look too bad but when we emptied them of all the utensils, we found that they would definitely benefit from some Goodgym TLC.

We soon had them sparkling again and everywhere looked much brighter and nicer when we’d finished!

It was a lovely evening and Maurice and Dalton were great company. I enjoyed our chats… we covered everything from bitcoins, to Netflix!

Have a great week and look forward to seeing you very soon!

Lots of love Nicola xxx

Another beautiful morning spent helping out at Crewe Parkrun. The sun was shining as almost 300 took to their feet and either walked or ran 3 laps of Queens Park.

As always, it was such a pleasure to be able to volunteer at this great event and be part of the magic that happens every Saturday morning.

We all love our involvement in Pakrun and that's where you will find most of us every Saturday morning (if not at Crewe, being a tourist somewhere!).

Thanks for having us Parkrun!

Rain, rain and more rain!!! Wow did the heavens open today!! We weren’t expecting a dry night at tonight’s session after the day we’d had, but that’s exactly what we got (of course we did – this is Goodgym afterall!).

Tonight, we were leafleting for fantastic charity, Motherwell, so it was amazing to have 7 members join us tonight, including a lovely first time Goodgymer Britt. It was great to welcome you Britt. We really hope you enjoyed your first experience of a Goodgym task and will come back and join us again soon.

We started the evening with two groups – a walking option and a running option. Karen, Nigel, Britt and Adele opted for the walk this evening and took in some of the local woodland. They really enjoyed the walk but after all the rain, it was a tad wet and slippery under foot. I didn’t hear any complaining though and in fact Karen emphasized how beautiful if was (despite the muddied up trainers!). Annaliza, Maurice and I had a run and headed down to the lovely Queen’s Park where we did and ‘almost but not quite’ lap of the Crewe Parkrun route. We had the park to ourselves (apart from the squirrels and geese of course!). I think the rain must have put people off coming out. We had a good run and then headed back to Motherwell.

When we got back to base, we distributed the leaflets between us and we put Karen in charge of the map (she loves a map but don’t give her a pen, whatever you do! ;)). It was fantastic to have 7 members all pounding the streets tonight, it made a HUGE difference in the number of leaflets we were able to get through letterboxes (teamwork makes the dream work….. it actually really does, lol!). There was plenty of puddle dodging tonight but luckily no rain dodging (Nigel carried his golf umbrella round all night for no reason :( but sods law would have it that it would have rained if he hadn't taken it!)

As our evening began to draw to an end, we realised that we’d somehow become separated from the lovely Annaliza and Britt. The last few streets we delivered to were like rabbit warrens, it was hardly any wonder we got separated. So sorry Annaliza and Britt. I hope you’ll forgive us.

A lovely night as always! Thanks for being my wonderful Goodgym buddies this evening and getting another fantastic job done!

And one final shout out to Adele for tonight’s pun – total lifesaver!!!! Hope you don't mind the little bit I added at the end, I couldn't resist!!

Love you all to bits!

Have a great week and see you all soon. Nicola xxx

It was a somewhat unusual evening. For the first time in 3.5 years, I (Nicola that is!) was the only one signed up for the task. We were due to be supporting the Lighthouse Centre this evening but given that I was only one pair of hands, I had a chat with Dalton and we agreed to postpone it until a later date, when hopefully we will have a few more sets of hands, lol!

So instead, I decided to do a litter pick and headed off to the gorgeous Queen’s Park. It was such a lovely evening. The weather was lovely; the sun was out and there was no wind. The park wasn’t busy, so it felt really peaceful. As I wandered around with my picker and my bag, I enjoyed the watching the geese, ducks, swans, and squirrels. There were dozens of squirrels, all very tame and on the hunt for food I suspect. Unfortunately, I hadn’t gone prepared, so they were disappointed and I was totally guilt tripped…... So, I vowed to myself that I’d go back on another evening with some nuts and give them a feast!!

I covered 2 miles in total as I wandered through the park and although it’s very well maintained, I still managed to fill a full bag of rubbish. Sad that it’s necessary, but I’m not sure how we can change people’s attitudes around looking after their own surroundings…

I really missed my Goodgym buddies this evening, but the park was beautiful and went some way to making up for not having my lovely Goodgym friends there.

Thanks for reading! Have a great week!

Nicola xx

It was a beautiful spring evening – pretty blossom was blooming everywhere we turned, and it was the perfect night for a lovely leafleting task for the wonderful charity Motherwell. Tonight, we were delivering leaflets promoting the services of Motherwell as well as some events that they've got coming up that they wanted to spread the word about – in particular, a tea party to celebrate the King’s Coronation.

Alison, Karen & Nicola set out, armed with leaflets and maps, and headed off to start posting. We had a good natter as we walked (with the occasional minor curse about the low letter boxes, awkward gates, and over enthusiastic dogs!). We covered a staggering 4 miles. I think the long drives contributed to at least half that distance, lol!

The evening went really quickly, and we managed to shift a good chunk of leaflets while getting lots of fresh air, exercise and most importantly, enjoying amazing company.

I think we all felt tired by the end, but it was a job well done!

Well done team, amazing as always!!

Have a great week and see you soon, Lots of love Nicola xxx