3 Goodgymers got their contributions towards the January challenge off to a great start with a 6km run to help Chase Meadow Community Centre with taking down their beautiful Christmas decorations.

On what was an unseasonably warm evening we started with a quick warm up in St Nicks Park before heading off towards the Community Centre. The run was a great chance to catch up on everyone's news over Christmas and plan towards upcoming races and challenges for 2023.

Upon arrival at the Centre we were confronted with the beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the foyer. It seemed such a shame to take the tree down and we felt a bit like the Grinch stealing Christmas! However all good things must come to an end, so Allan and Nigel set to work with removing the baubles from the tree. Next were the strings of beads and finally the very long string of 1000 lights! At the same time, Katherine grabbed a chair and removed baubles from along the ceiling and light fittings in the cafe area, as well as near the entrance door.

Once all the decorations were down and packed away, the next challenge was to fit the huge tree into the box! Thankfully we made light work of this and even had time to quickly run Henry hoover over the area where the tree had been, picking up any dropped needles and (some of) the glitter that had fallen from the baubles.

With everything packed away for another year (bah humbug), it was time to head back to St Nicks.

2 Goodgymers donned their Christmas jumpers to help with setting up stalls for Chase Meadow Community Centre's Christmas Fair. Before we'd even entered the building we were greeted by fantastic crochet creations keeping the bollards warm outside.

The Centre was a hive of activity today with Santa's grotto taking place in a different room and the cafe in full swing. We were helping with setting up stalls in the Oak room and sports hall. The first job was setting up tables and chairs at various points around the hall ready for any stall owners to display their wares.

Next we got creative with some fairy lights to make a cosy seating area for people if they need a break from all that shopping. After that we helped the Centre set up their own stalls including being given free reign on the "It's a Wrap" stall selling Christmas wrapping paper and gift bags - Nigel had great fun making sure the bags were all placed just so to look jaunty. Finally we helped with setting up the Lego stall, which was attracting interest before we'd even set it up!

Everything was done and dusted still with 30 mins to go before the start of the Fair - go team!

This gave us a chance to head over to Newbold Comyn to make a start on putting up some posters for Sustrans advertising their upcoming volunteer days along the Lias Line - two good deeds in one day!

Helping with the stall set-up and seeing so many people in fantastic elf and fairy costumes, not to mentioned the huge array of Christmas jumpers has really got us in the Christmas spirit!

4 Goodgymers rolled up their sleeves to help Chase Meadow Community Centre with a deep clean of their cafe chairs.

After a quick warm up at St Nicks Park we jogged over to the Centre, sharing recent news of dry slope skiing and London marathon plans.

It was great to see the Centre being well used when we got there with both a youth group and circuits class going on at the Centre this evening. Without trying to disturb the youth group too much, we grabbed all the chairs from the cafe and moved them into the entrance area to give us space to clean them. We spread the chairs out giving the feeling of a doctor's waiting room! We then set to work cleaning the chairs which we had sussed in no time.

James fed his OCD tendencies ensuring that all the chairs were stacked in colour order! Once the youth group had finished we then put all the chairs back into the cafe, admiring the wonderful new tree mural on the wall, before enjoying our jog back to St Nicks.

Next week we will be doing a litter pick around Christchurch gardens in Leamington - why not join us?!

2 Goodgymers got out the elbow grease to help Chase Meadow community centre with some cleaning.

With another evening of beautiful weather, it was a sweaty gentle jog the 1.8 miles to get to the centre from St Nick's Park. Upon arrival we could clearly see the stack of big tables and cleaning equipment that had kindly been left for our task.

It was a real team effort with Nigel flexing his muscles getting the tables out of the rack and set up ready for Katherine to give them a wipe over. Nigel also had the slightly tricky but satisfying task of getting all the rogue bits of tape off the edges of the tables.

It was then a case of packing all the tables away, getting rid of the now rather dirty looking water and giving the cloths a good rinse before heading back on our run into town.

We had a quick sneak peek at some of the new decoration that is taking place at the centre. We didn't take any photos as we don't want to ruin the big reveal for when it's finished, but we can say that it's looking fabulous!

3 Goodgymers supported Chase Meadow Community Centre with a deep clean of their kitchen.

It was a good run from St Nick's to Chase Meadow, so we were quite glad that the weather had cooled down compared to a few days ago! Upon arrival we were shown the kitchen area by Jo which has not been used during the summer whilst the Centre has been closed for some refurbishment.

James set to work with wiping down the work surfaces and cupboard fronts in the kitchen whilst Nigel emptied two cupboards full of mugs and glasses in order to clean the shelves thoroughly and wash up any glasses that were looking a bit grubby. Katherine meanwhile set to work on the gas cooker, washing up the iron covers and wiping the top of the stove.

Nigel allowed his perfectionist tendencies to show as he meticulously ensured all the cups and glasses were put back in the cupboard in both type and colour order.

Once the kitchen was looking spick and span, we had a quick chance to admire the new sports hall floor that was recently fitted as part of the refurbishment project and heard a bit about the future plans for the cafe. We look forward to coming back in a couple of weeks!

5 Goodgymers ran to Chase Meadow Community Centre in Warwick to help with a cupboard sort out.

Having enjoyed a pleasant jog through Warwick town we arrived at the centre to see a number of people doing circuits as part of their fitness class in the sports hall. Tempted though we were to join in(!), we decided to catch our breath whilst they finished off their class.

Once done, Jo from the Chase Meadow Centre explained to us that the large cupboard in the sports hall had become a bit of a dumping ground during COVID and as a result she had no idea what was in there, so it was in desperate need of a sort out.

The first task was to get everything out of the cupboard and into the sports hall so that we could see what we were dealing with. The next task in some cases was to work out what on earth things were! More confusing items included bags of sand and pebbles, a crown green bowls set, an entire computer which came out of the cupboard in various separate items, some halloween themed baby clothes and one item that seemed to be a wooden box with a glass screen on that we couldn't even identify and seemed to have something to do with money or bingo - your guess is as good as mine!

We then set to work making a "chuck it" pile, a "keep it and sort pile" and a "return to the cupboard" pile. It was then a case of packing the "return to the cupboard" pile back onto the shelving in a nice orderly fashion so that everything was much more visible and Jo knew where everything was. Some of the "keep it and sort pile" was moved to other areas in the centre, leaving a few more items to sort and the "chuck it" pile for Jo to deal with in the morning.

We then enjoyed a jog back to St Nick's Park on a beautiful warm evening, including a bit of an up hill drag (I'm sure it wasn't that steep when we ran down it on the way there!) and a quick stretch before heading home. Sorted!