Clocks have gone forward and the temperature has dropped - it looks like winter is here! But the dark evening didn't deter 12 Ipswich Goodgymers this evening.

Massive congratulations to Robin who was sporting his brand new black Goodgym T-shirt marking his 50th good deed - the first person in Ipswich to reach the milestone.

Our task tonight was at La Tour Cycle Cafe - a community hub that was playing host to displays and activities as part of the SPILL Festival in Ipswich. Our mission was to help clean and tidy the venue ready for more activities tomorrow.

With the Cafe being only a short distance along the Waterfront, we headed off in the opposite direction to run a loop before arriving to be greeted by Anna. She welcomed the group and called out the various jobs that needed doing - furniture moving, floor sweeping, hoovering, dusting, mopping bathrooms and general tidying up.

As part of the festival huge banners were displayed all around the inside of the huge space that is home to the cafe, as well as sculptures and a wooden boat that will be set alight as part of the festival finale on Saturday.

With the task complete it was back out onto a very chilly Waterfront for a circuits session under the floodlights. With each exercise aimed at working running, muscles, balance and core stability - 45 seconds on / 15 seconds recovery.

A final gentle run back to base and we all rushed home to watch ourselves on TV - BBC inside Out visited us in the summer to film one of our sessions and it was being broadcast this evening.

Watch from 11.00 minutes in: (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bp1222/inside-out-east-29102018?fbclid=IwAR1NgoW5j2LUBkUPo6PtMiWefIG9ac-zyUbeNRCfpC_awUJq3AwYuL1-cs8)

A bitterly cold evening took it's toll on the turnout tonight, but 9 hard core, Goodgymers were tough enough to make it.

Our destination was only a short distance along the Waterfront from our meeting point so we headed off in the opposite direction taking in a circular loop before arriving at La Tour Cycle Cafe.

Anna and Julian met us in the huge space that is the current home of the community café and hub for vulnerable people in Ipswich. The venue will be hosting a Film Suffolk event on Tuesday and they needed lots of sofas and other furniture moved to reconfigure the space ahead of the event.

It really was a huge area and there were numerous sofas of all designs and shapes and sizes to be rearranged into a seating plan for the event.

With the usual Goodgym enthusiasm the job was done quickly completed - even surprising ourselves, and allowing time to try out the sofas for a team photo.

This allowed additional time for a bracing circuit session on the Waterfront with step ups and press ups, shuttle runs and squat jumps on the menu.

A gentle jog back to the University for some stretching brought a chilly but successful evening to a close......and as bonus, even the slowest changing traffic lights in the world were in our favour as we crossed the road to the car park.

Next week is a longer run to another new destination at Highfield Nursery