Mow Farrah would have dug the sand work done tonight -& it's safe to say, one year on we are still having a Wales of a time!!

26 Goodgymers helped their local community in Cardiff
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Cardiff

Tuesday 22nd May 2018

Report written by Benjamin Annear

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26 GoodGym runners came out in force this evening to run from Yr Hen Llyfrgell to St Monica's Primary School to help garden, sand and remove old paint from the fences

1 year on and GoodGym Cardiff is still going strong! Who would have imagined that it would have grown to be what it is today? We all met at Yr Hen Lyfrgell - The amazing venue that has been hosting us every Tuesday evening on a weekly basis since Tuesday 23rd May 2017 on our very first run. Once it was 6.30pm we headed outside. Ben gave a brief overview of the nights exciting events and then Councilor Susan Elsmore acknowledged the success of GoodGym Cardiff, reflecting on her meeting 3 years ago with the founder of GoodGym and recognising GoodGym as an amazing project that she wanted to be involved in bringing to Cardiff. Councilor Susan Elsmore also highlighted the different projects that the runners have helped in both Cardiff and the Vale and also reminded us of the memorable moments - Councilor Elsmore follows GoodGym Cardiff and Vale on Twitter so hears all about the good we do. A BIG thank you to Councilor Elsmore for coming down to GoodGym this evening.

Time to warm up, do our headcount and then get going -- but very quickly, what has been your favourite GoodGym moment to date?

It was then time to begin our run. We did our headcount and as per our usual standards, losing count and Ben almost missed out Ellen!!! - Oh BEN! Everyone stated their favourite GoodGym moment to date; Aimee mentioned about the GoodGym trip to Bath and wassailing. Lowri mentioned about the Snowdogathon and Angharad said that her favourite memory of GoodGym so far was running to her coach! We also welcomed Jenny who was running with GoodGym for the first time - WELCOME!! Tanya returned to GoodGym again this week after running with us for the first time last week and it was huge pleasure to welcome back Larry, who we have also missed greatly!

Time to run run runnnn!

We began our run to the task. It was a squat of fun and we did exercises which allowed the others to catch up. We also did Lunges, holding them until everyone got in the lunge position... which did mean there was some groans!

Welcome to St Monica's Primary School

Our Task organisers this evening were Abigail and Richard, the headteacher and deputy head respectively. They were both prepared for us with tasks and equipment at the ready! Richard led a group of Gardening enthusiasts to the school allotment known as 'The Table' and Abi orchestrated the other runners to sand outside benches and climbing equipment. Abi also allocated some runners to use wire brushes to clean old paint from the fences. Everything is always so organised which is fantastic! There we also biscuits and water too which everyone really appreciated.

Everyone worked hard at the task for 35 minutes. Darren had a couple of children throw some grass at him, however after some TLC from Ben he felt okay again to continue.

Stuart was quick to seize the opportunity to use the lawnmower, mowing the lawn and pretending he was Mow Farah and pretending he picked up the wrong bottle at drink stations.


After completing the task we used the outside playground to play a game of 'Runner Runner come and get your PB'. This game is slightly different to British Bulldogs, and by that I mean not only does it have a different name as British Bulldogs which is a banned game at St Monica's Primary School, but other than tagging the person nobody gets spearhead tackled to the ground - phew!... Fortunately everyone heard the rules too and the game continued without incident.

"Thank you so much everyone - You've been incredible and you've made a massive difference in such a short space of time" Abi and Rich both said appreciative of our efforts

It was now time to run back, sadly, as we love helping out at St Monica's Primary School with Hollie filming us as we left. On the way back we did some planks and sprints which was unanimous good fun!

Again, a huge thank you to Councilor Susan Elsmore, Abigail, Rich and Hollie who all helped make the run tonight a success (Hollie was from the BBC and was doing some filming).

Get signed up to next week's run by clicking here!!

From me, a personal note to say thank you for everything you have done to make GoodGym Cardiff what it is today.


Session Leader
This task supported
St Monica's Church in Wales Primary School
Where every child has the chance to shine!

St Monica's is a small school, set in the vibrant area of Cathays in Cardiff and provide a welcoming, caring and secure environment in which Christian values are central to the ethos of the school and its community. In St Monica's school, every child has the chance to shine.

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Attendees
Lydia
Emma Wilkins
Benjamin Annear
Angharad Rhys
Lawrence Fletcher
Samuel
Fiona Guy
Ellen
Su Fernandez
Alison Ling
Lowri Davies
Stuart Barrow
Emyr Wills
Aimee Giles
Tom Power
Rachael
Charlotte Dawes
Emma Hughes-McEwan
Darren
Jess
Rachel
Ewan Lawless
Tanya Griffiths
Jen Thomas
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