Hello and welcome to another fine report.

Alas, Heidi and Nisar couldn't make it but we had 9 eager GoodGymers for tonight. James joined us for the first time, welcome! Naturally we had to wait for Andy who arrived late and then needed to spend a penny.

We headed off out to Old Moulsham on a nice little jaunt. Well done to Rob for completing the GoodGym women's night safety training which really makes you think and consider things you hadn't before. An important topic to discuss.

We met the group and dived into the leaflets, lovingly folded by dear leader Fay, to help promote Helen Rollason, CHESS and YMCA. Rich was still looking a bleary eyed from his weekend lads trip to Cincinnati and presented me with an excellent bright red babygrow. Might be my GoodGym Halloween run outfit! Thank you Rich.

It was a good job I did my pre-run safety briefing as Leanne BROKE A NAIL!!! After she was consoled she was fully qualified to dive back in. I chatted to Sallyann about her upcoming holiday, it basically sounds like a wine and yoga retreat...

We were going to go a shorter route back up the high street to see the Christmas lights (I know, crazy that they're up now) but after our discussion about the importance of women's safety we decided to run Kate back to her bike. James definitely didn't have a reason for wanting to go through the park but he did go to inspect an interesting bush he saw!

Once we returned back to ARU we outlined next week's task at Beaulieu (about 7km total run) and parted ways. Happy running!

Last week’s poem about suspicious lemonade seemed to go down well. Which is good, because this week’s litter pick found even more stuff dumped in the bushes, including several bottles of hedgerow homebrew.

Jane was back with us for another run and looking forward to a delicious, uninterrupted weekend without Rich. Because it takes all sorts to build a world, he was looking forward to going home via a plant-based Whopper.

Robert went for his trademark jazzy shorts and socks again but it wasn’t warm, so David led us out and we warmed up on the run. Destination B&M, via a roundabout route to find Laurie and Sallyann who’d walked to the river. We sent Rich up the path to check if they were there and somehow resisted the temptation to hide before he came back.

So. Much. Litter. The usual piles of McDonalds, disposable vapes and energy drinks, but there were also some vintage finds tonight. Heidi and Joe had to go halves with litter pickers to grab a huge can of GOLD WHIP gas. It was empty but there were no empty balloons around, so maybe Chelmsford’s nitrous lovers take their laughing gas straight from the can?

That wasn’t enough of a find for Andy, who came around the corner exclaiming “I’ve found a washing machine!” Bit big for a bin bag… Happily, it was only a bit of a washing machine, which had clearly been there a while judging by the amount of ivy that tied it to a tree. With some delicate kicking and Andy yanking the other end, it was freed and bagged.

We’d only managed to clear a short stretch of the car park by the time we had to leave. Everyone agreed it was the most litter we’d ever found in a pick (we ran out of bags!) and thankfully, the two dumped shopping baskets we found became bins for the heavier stuff.

Five bags and five-and-a-bit kms later, job done. Thanks everyone for coming, and see you on Saturday for parkrun. Apparently it’s Chelmsford’s birthday, so try fancy dress!