We had a bumper congregation of GoodGymers for the Super Saturday community mission, including the lovely Zdeni visiting from GoodGym Bristol.

We started our day in the splendid Lydiard Park for parkrun. Lucky for us, our Super Saturday community mission was just a hop, skip and a jump away at the beautiful little church within the park. St Mary’s church received a Heritage Lottery Fund to restore the historic interiors, which include remarkable wall paintings and vibrantly painted architectural features. The conservation process requires specialist knowledge and world-class expertise. We do like a painting task but we had to admit that restoring medieval wall paintings would be a tad ambitious even for us so we had the task of sprucing up the outside areas with a spot of weeding.

The weather was glorious and it was lovely to be out in the sunshine for a couple of hours. We set about clearing the weeds on the footpath leading to the church and clearing a lowered planting area at the back of the church.

In 1592 Queen Elizabeth I, no less, came to Lydiard and awarded a knighthood. So we thought it appropriate to perform our own version of a knighthood as we celebrated Sam’s 50th good deed - congratulations Sam! The Risk Assessment prevented us from actually waving a sword about but we dub thee for your valour and service to GoodGym. Arise Sandy Sam, and go forth and collecteth your black t-shirt! We then made merry with traditional Tudor fare of ummm, cupcakes and gluten free flapjacks?!

Despite the lovely tranquil task, there was a nervous frizzle in the air as a few of us were minus one day until the Swindon Half Marathon. A first for some, helped by many GoodGym runs improving our fitness but mostly by the months of congratulations at each training milestone and the lovely pick-me-ups during the inevitable set-backs along the way. This community mission was perfectly timed for some last minute preparation, pep talks and positive vibes that only a GoodGym task can bring.

With frequent check-ins from the lovely people at the church – including advice on how many squats we needed to do to burn of the cake – super helpful! – we were soon done and waving goodbye.

Next up, we’re off to church again when we will be walking and running approximately 5km in total to Christ Church and back to help with a gardening task in the grounds of this stunning landmark in Central Swindon. You can sign up here!.