It is I, your fearless (run)leader. I started the session with an amazing briefing. Hopefully all the necessary points were nailed and the high council of goodgym will approve me doing more. I promise not to let the power go to my head.

We waved goodbye and good luck to Saeed moving to his new home! Find a goodgym up there yeah? New Chris didn’t make it but we hope to meet you soon.

We headed off at a leisurely pace, still warm for running. At the church Fay, David and Laurie were really digging the shovel duty. Nobody puts Sallyann in the corner, she got in there entirely voluntarily. Many hands made light work of tipping wood chips all over Joe (well done Jess and Andy). Russell worked smarter, not harder. We discovered Rich doesn’t know how wheelbarrows work.

I distributed fake news about sunflowers and would like to make a formal retraction.

Thanks to the crew at St Mary’s for the soothing bell ringing while we worked and the drinks afterwards.

Angela

July signals Chelmsford GoodGym's birthday, and this year it's been 8 years since we first started! As is tradition, we celebrated by going to the Chelmsford Beer and Cider Festival. All of us sampled the delights of different beers and ciders, other than Sallyann who stuck to her pints of wine! Andy had a puncture en route but didn't let that stop him, he had to get to the festival to compare Hawaiian shirts with Rich and Russell. Ben tried his hand (very successfully) at axe throwing, while Laurie was more excited by the chocolate churros. Fay was very taken with Caroline's doggy Bella who came along for some ear scratches and lucked out when some chips fell her way. We were really lucky with the weather and even managed to get some seats so it was a successful evening all round. We need to get our thinking caps on for our next social now, any suggestions let us know!

Maybe it was the good weather, or maybe we were all excited to hear from Ben about his trip to South America, but for whatever reason, turnout for garden clearing at Meadow View Cottage last night was huge.

We welcomed new member Daniel on his first Good Deed ever and it was a 10/10 performance from the newcomer. He’s apparently an avid pub quizzer and even brought his own gardening gloves – what a pro.

Ben was fresh from his South American hikes and Rich was fresh from a week of intense hayfever, so obviously they decided to race each other. If the Olympics are short of stunning visual backdrops, then a sprint on the downhill bit of Chelmsford’s flyover towards Aldi is what they need. By the time the rest of us arrived – via Andy-style attempts at jumps for the camera – Ben had his breath back and Rich had invented lots of excuses for why he lost.

Sometimes when you’re asked to clear a path, you have to ask where it is first. That’s the kind of weed-filled thorny jungle we faced. But with gloves, secateurs and some aggressive trowel work, you wouldn’t be-leaf how quickly we filled the waste bags. Too quickly, actually – so, proper GoodGym style, someone had to jump in and stamp it all down. While we’re talking feet – socks. By some happy accident, the sock game from Ben (odd polka dots), Dave (armadillos, apparently) and Rich (mate, why are they so long?!) was INCREDIBLE. They’ve probably got a secret group chat to coordinate this kind of thing.

By the time weed packed up (see what I did there?) there were three bags of cuttings to move. After the run there and the squats to pull up weeds, it was upper body workout time as we lifted or dragged them into the front garden for disposal.

In case that makes us sound like we do fitness – tonight is the beer festival and with Daniel on our side, maybe we can return to the top spot in August’s pub quiz… Until then, run happy!

Joe

“Lack of dedication.” “They look like they don’t want to be there.” “A tragic collection of individual high performers.”

England – now we know how you feel at the Euros. A boiling evening on the Costa del Chelmsford saw nine GoodGym members arrive hot and sweaty before we’d even started.

Setting off to the top of Broomfield (why is it so far uphill?) for some weeding and path chipping, David led out at a gentle pace while Team Walk became Team Drive/Carry Your Water. Fay's car probably has air conditioning too. Not fair.

Broomfield was alive with people enjoying the sun – including a group who clapped us as we jogged past. We were going slowly because of the heat rather than to enjoy the applause – honest! It’s the kind of support Angela could have done with on her 30 mile fundraising hike last week.

As we arrived, Joe and David debated the proper name for the wooden arch at the churchyard entrance but could only come up with “definitely not a shed.” At least the ideas to rename the pub being refurbished next door were better. Maybe we could add The Old Testament to the October social route…

The team got stuck into murdering giant spiky plants and shovelling woodchip onto the new pathways. Sallyann decided it would be easier to lay the chippings if she was on the other side of said giant spiky plants, so hurdled the hedge and made a neat and tidy job of it.

Because David did such a good job of naming the not-a-shed, Laurie decided to bounce baby name ideas off Fay instead. Lots didn’t make the cut – David Junior, or DJ for short – but we’ve all marked our calendars to meet little Prince Chatterjee.

Andy had clearly taken notes and reckoned it’d be easier to ‘help’ by lifting and tipping the full barrow rather than shovelling it onto the ground. A good idea in theory, but less great when he ended up dumping the woodchip all over the shrubs. Even worse, he did this just after Sallyann had managed to pick her way out of the thicket.

Maybe it was fighting the thorns or maybe he misread GoodGym in the heat, but Martin was a fully scratched-up member of BloodGym by the end of the task. He looked like he’d gone 12 rounds with a feisty kitten on Red Bull, but there’s nothing that Broomfield’s trademark orange squash can’t fix.

A 10k beer trail run is the next session (no pun intended) and despite the heat being the perfect excuse for not winning or beating David, Russell decided to wait until the last minute to bail on us. More GoodGym members are marshalling the Havens Hospices Race4Business on 3 July, and there’s a pub quiz on Sunday 7 July at the Ale House.

Stay cool and run happy 😎

Joe