This wasn't quite the usual task for a cold dark night (we be much more suitable for a warm summer evening) but who likes to do things the easy way?!

It was our first visit to Sprowston Youth Engagement Project (SYEP). They have taken a relatively new piece of land, and are wanting to have a nature pond there. That's where our person-power was required, to help start to dig it out and shape it.

Finn met us there with an array of spades and shovels and floodlights already set up so we could see, and then we cracked on with the task. You definitely didn't want to be wearing your new white trainers for this task.

We completed a good 50 mins, by which time the temperature had dropped and we were rather chilly despite the physical task.

Tonight we had our first ever visit to the Priscilla Bacon Hospice charity shop in Anglia Square, to help them sort through donations.

Its always great to help new organisations and new tasks.

Adam, the shop manager, let us in and showed us the ropes of what needed to be done.

Before long, everyone was getting stuck in.

Please be careful with the use of the photo of Stephen Reed doing the hoovering... he is worried his wife will see it and get him doing it at home.

We got loads done in 50 minutes, despite me distracting people with the whoopie cushion.

Thank you to Priscilla Bacon Hospice for having us, we look forward to visiting again in the future.

We had our biggest turn out since pre-covid with a whopping 25 GoodGymers opting to help sort out donations at the Norwich Foodbank.

This was bolstered by 8 people experiencing their 1st (of many hopefully) good deeds with GoodGym, so a massive welcome to Ruth, Jess, Harriet, Claudia, Amber, Claire, Jennifer B and Stephen K.

For those that decided to meet at The Forum first, we had a 3.5km each way jog to the task, with Jen J kindly being the backrunner.

Keith (warehouse manager) soon split us up into small groups of various tasks, which included weighing crates and sorting through golden syrup donations and putting them in date order.

25 people helping out for 50 minutes nearly equated to nearly 24 volunteering hours, just incredible!

At the end we surprised Elizabeth with her Sean Coxhead award trophy.

Next week we're having a games night with tenants at Hayden Court Retirement Home.

Tonight 9 Goodgymer's ran 4km to help support the 35th Sea Scouts in Norwich.

When we arrived David gave us instructions to clear up brambles, find any litter and create more space for the scouts to use.

Rob and Steven got to work clearing the alleyway along the side of the building, allowing access for work to be completed on the guttering.

The rest of the group set about collecting rubbish and cutting back areas of overgrown weeds.

A request was made for 'long armed assistance' so Jenny and Mark helped to repair the loose tarpaulin roof, doing a super job that was very appreciated!

Well done Team for braving to cold weather. We will be back again in a few months to make a difference once more.

This week's Group Run marked a very special milestone. Elizabeth Halford was the first person at GoodGym Norwich to complete 500 good deeds, and one of a very few elite in GoodGym across the country.

Due to the icy conditions, I decided it was safer for everyone to meet at the Norwich Foodbank, instead of meeting at The Forum and running from there (accept for Ian and Robert who still wanted to run).

There was a good turnout for Elizabeth, with 17 people helping to sort donations. One of the main tasks was to put Xmas bags together. A gentle reminder to us that many people don't have the luxuries that some people have, especially during this time of year.

Elizabeth was presented with many balloons and some gifts, including a hand made medal from Bill & Katy.

Seven GoodGymmers met at the Forum on a damp and cold Monday evening! We always have a good warm up and Steven puts us through our paces, this time we did some shuttle runs through Norwich's mesmeric light tunnel. Not wishing to be late however we set off into the good night running as a group to Eaton Park. Bobby was back runner. No-one gets left behind! We arrived in good time and met the rest of the gang, ten of us in total. However the organiser briefly threw a curveball by getting us to head to the bandstand to pick up tools - brooms and hand spades where we were met by a drummer band from Extinction Rebellion. Running back to the community centre we promptly set about sweeping the leaves and weeding between the cracks. We bustled around getting the job done in decent time. The place looked cleaner and significantly cleaner! After we collected half a dozen bags of leaves we emptied these out in the nearby woodland copse creating neat habitat piles for hibernating hedgehogs. We ran back to the bandstand to the beat of the drums - Steven's dancing did not however impress upon the group too much!! As we said goodbye to those not returning to the Forum. The gang headed back head torches blazing deep in to the winter evening.