After a string of poor excuses, only the bravest of goodgymers met last night (having a baby? pssh).

Traffic was awful so there was a lot of discussion over the best way through town right now, and the answer is clearly on foot.

Fay, Andy and Richard drove in but survived the ordeal. The excellent 'reverse advent calendar' foodbank collection is underway. Joe appeared when summoned by Andy.

A cold run to the church hall and we got to work, it's like we've never cleared any leaves at all every time we visit but it keeps us out of trouble. Everything was filling up with piles of leaves still waiting to be lifted so a brisk walk for a bin secondment allowed us to get more picked up for collection day.

We will be back for more leaves in a few weeks!

On a chilly November evening we met at the old factory gym ready for a bit of leafleting.

After regaling others with mine and David's firewalk last week we set off into the night.

We met Sallyann and Leanne in the Lidl carpark with the leaflets expertly folded from last weeks task.

Richard got stuck into the task and was galloping between the houses as Andy started to feel the cold and regretted not wearing the extra layer.

Walking and chatting through the winding streets we came towards the end of pile of leaflets and Kate wasn't sure which way was her home until we turned the corner and realised we were back at Lidl.

Back at the Sallyann's car we talked about what we were having for dinner when Sallyann realised she had missed a dark carrier bag full of even more leaflets. lol

So next week we shall be clearing leaves at St Johns church hall and the following week we will finish the leafleting (with maybe some litterpicking too)

Great to see you all, and hope to see you again next week

remember....

RUN HAPPY

Rich

Four of us nutters decided to do something a little different on a Wednesday night, but still a good deed, for Mid & North East Essex Mind. We signed up to walk on 1200 degree fire!

When we got there, Rich wouldn't shut up about his dry robe, Ben started to look nervous, Joe upset us all by moving telling us about his impending move to Norwich, and I hadn't had a baby yet.

After a great briefing from Cliff, we were ready. Ben sprinted across, Rich strava'd it and deservedly got a blister, I enjoyed the extra 200 degrees they put on for me, and Joe was Mr. Casual.

We also got pizza and a certificate! Find out more about Mind here: https://mnessexmind.org/ Amazing work offering hope and support for good mental health, so that no one feels alone.

Jane was first to the gym, keen to escape her desk (even if it is opposite the pub). Richard had sprinted to get his interval training in. Andy arrived, refreshed from his holiday. We detoured a bit on route to the pub to avoid some of the traffic where the bag of leaflets were waiting for us.

Richard very kindly got the first (and only) round in (because we were just too efficient).

Sallyann slid on to the table like a ninja completing her 100th good deed!

Leaflets were bundled and folded so everyone will know about some excellent local schemes - Santa fun runs, panto, carols, Christmas tree collections, and the work by CHESS in the community.

It was a dark and stormy night.. well, it wasn't stormy but it was dark- and it is halloween so just imagine.

Erin got there nice and early to skulk in the shadows. I was attacked by a giant spider on the way to meet the gang. David had been under Frankensteins blade (explains all the extra body weight). Rich was terrifying as usual. Kate was riding a DIY-high and eager to crack on.

We trotted down the highstreet avoiding any slippery leaves. At the hall we found another spider (Sallyann), a pumpkin (Laurie) and.. the devil? (sorry Fay). They had made an excellent start and we blitzed through the brown bins in no time. Goodgym will be back soon to re-leaf the hall of the remainder of foliage as it drops over the next few weeks.

See you next week for some pub based prep.

As everyone knows, we meet at 6:30 on a Wednesday, right Rob? The silly goose turned up at 6:00! So after the rest of us arrived at the right time (apart from Laurie who was a minute late) we said hello, laughed at me for accidentally blocking Laurie's new credit card, and prepared the pickers. The walkers headed off led by Fay while we discussed our recent achievements. Kate showed off her new red GG tshirt, Andy saved lives by giving blood this week, and Rob had been to a Peter Pan afternoon tea. That obviously explains the photos.

We ran a medium-ish route at a good pace to meet up with the rest of the posse and get picking. Sallyann enjoyed her wine and yoga based holiday and also casually dropped into conversation she has a super famous cousin?!?! We've never seen Kings Road so clean, apart from after we've been through of course, so did a longer ambling walk. We didn't pick up the toilet we found, Kate doesn't need one for her house renovation, but we did have to shout at the bag boys to tell them to hurry up.

Fay reminisced about walking down the street in her PE kit while Andy commented that the amount of Stella litter by the school could be a cause for concern.

We are going to investigate an afternoon tea social, although fierce debate raged about sweet versus savoury ratio. Watch this space. We have loads coming up, the reverse advent calendar foodbank, xmas social at Banana Tree, pub quiz on November 3rd, parkrun volunteer and next week a halloween run led by the amazing Angela!