It was a completely different sort of Group Run for us tonight as we popped along to Balmoral Court for the first time in what we are hoping will be another great GoodGym partnership.

Balmoral Court is a residential home for people with dementia and we were there this evening to work with Equal Arts a charity improving wellbeing for older people and those living with dementia through creativity. The plan is that as they develop the Hen Power project, we will support them through informal sessions like tonight to develop trust and relationships with staff and residents. It's a great link for us that will give us warm tasks for the winter (BONUS!) and the chance to play with hens and build stuff in the spring (DOUBLE BONUS!)

We were given a warm welcome after a beautiful run along the Quayside taking in the many many fireworks displays going on all around- either that or there were a LOT of cars bike firing on the City Road tonight. It's a route that was new to GoodGym but shows off so much of Newcastle that we should be proud of. How better to see it than under fireworks?! I gave the group a conversation topic of "Spice Girls are back, tell me your 90s memories" which everyone ignored and pretended to be too cool to care about the Spice Girls.

We were met by Caroline and David from Equal Arts who gave us an introduction to the simple yet effective strategies they use to engage with the residents. Tonight we were going to be learning how to interact using newspapers by starting conversations about headlines, encouraging the residents to engage with the "now". Dave was straight in tonight choosing a copy of The Journal to chat with a female resident in the first stages of dementia. It was a really touching and though-provoking task and we all managed to have a chat with some of the residents in the short time available, with most of the female attention going to Paul who clearly has a kind face! Is there a GoodGym badge for that?

Due to the nature of tonight's task, there are no on-task photos of our ugly mugs for you to devour for the first time ever! We hope you understand!

If you are interested in getting more involved with Equal Arts or Hen Power, drop me an email anji@goodgym.org and I will put you in touch.

"It was a very thought-provoking night and a candid insight on the effects of dementia" - Carol Anne

We stopped off at the green space at the edge of the Quayside looked over by both the Cycle Hub (great for scones) and the Tyne Bar (even better for beer) for a quick game of Cones and The Ladder of Doom. The group had clearly run out of friendly and understanding spirit as it was everyone for themselves and very few choosing the option to get the people "out" of the game, back "in" again. Only two were left standing and much high-fiving rounded the fitness session off nicely.

"I might have got a bit competitive.. I need to remember I'm 27, not 7"- Charlotte

Huge welcome to Christina tonight, we hope you will be back for more Monday night GoodGymness !

We are back at Changing Lives next week, full details of which will be added as soon as I have them. Sign up for next week's group run here We will be staying for drinks and food at the Mile Castle next week so even if you're not coming for the task, come for the craic.

Happy Running, Anji x