We were back at Little Edi again this week to finish the painting we started last week. Five GoodGymers met at HQ and ran down together. Andy got a gold star for picking up more litter picking bags for our store room, and he won the Halloween costume competition (by being the only one to wear any).

Tess from Little Edi met us and showed us the where everything was. There were two bits to do: finishing the blue wall from last week, and a fresh coat of white in the men's toilet.

Sean got masking tape down in the toilet so that Laurie and me could start painting, and Andy, Rich and Sean went to do the wall.

It was a bit cramped in the toilet but we got it done, up to head height anyway. We thought we'd need the stepladder to reach the top, but it turns out you don't need a stepladder when you have a Sean who is tall enough to reach the ceiling.

When we finished, Andy had already washed the brushes, and Rich put all the stuff away.

There was time for a group photo, and Tess told us a bit about the excellent work they do to support local children, and showed us the food bank supplies they have to help families in need.

Great job everyone. Next week we are folding charity leaflets in the pub 🍻

On what was a very rainy day, the weather gods knew the drill and made sure it had stopped by the time Me, Andy and Fiona met outside the gym, because... it never rains on goodgym 🥰

We ran off into the dusk and were joined by Leah along the way towards Little Edi where we would be doing a spot of painting. As we arrived Fay and Sallyann had already arrived and got ourselves organised into two groups. Me,Andy and Leah painted the wall a lovely shade of blue. And Fay,Sallyann and Fiona painted the hallway, door and toilet wall a brilliant shade of white.

Covering most of the walls (and Leah's hands) we gathered the tins of paint and brushes and rollers and Andy showed his domesticated skills at the sink by washing the paint out of all of them. Leaving them on the side to dry we left , after i remembered to take a group photo, and made our way back home for a well deserved dinner/tea/snack/cocktail.

Well done everyone

We'll be back at Little Edi next week to continue our painting and hopefully back again over the winter to help with other bits and pieces they need doing.

Thanks for coming all and......

Run Happy

Rich

It was lovely to meet recent joiners Linn and Leah, which reminds me I need to finish signing up for aaaall the supermarket reward schemes. Joel had taken the evening off child wrangling for a good cause. Bets were taken on who would turn up last and/or late, Andy just pipped Martin on arrival but technically no one was late (hurrah!).

Fay was up for the run and we had a cruise down the highstreet to the new Little Edi tardis. Hiding behind a white door is a huge, soon to be excellent space for a foodbank and community support.

There were tables to be assembled, racks to put up and some painting to be done. But first things first! Anyone want a cup of tea? Biscuit? Sneak a few chocolates? We probably shouldn't pick favorite charities but if goodgymmers hear the kettle going on you might just double our numbers.

Rich, Erin and Benedict approached the racking full of confidence and in their defence, they did read the instructions first.. just not the front of the box, which was unfortunately labelled 2 of 2. Once 1 of 2 was discovered they threw it together in no time.

Team table got building. Again, reading the instructions first (pattern emerging here) but the tricksy tables turned the tide and were actually supposed to be able to fold up. Once all the tables refused to fold there was some last minute jiggering but we pulled it off in the end.

A cold jog back but looking forward to Little Edis open day on Saturday 5th April.

Good luck to all the runners out and about in Chelmsford on Sunday.

9 GoodGymer's tidied up a community garden

We were glad to welcome Joe P back for a second time in 2023, and Rachel back from a long break too!

No one was keen to run lead, so we all set off together, and after a brief chat about which the best fish and chip shop is in Chelmsford (Martin and Jenny suggested the one in Writtle), we headed into our task to find Fay, Sallyann and our task owner Tess.

Our task was to improve the space for families to use as a community garden. Richard joined Fay and Sallyann in cleaning the green portacabin, Rachel chose the pea planting box to clear, and Martin, Jenny and the two Joes helped to clear the prickly hedges.

Well done everyone, the garden looked so much better after our trip!

We jogged back a slightly different route to take us over 5km.

Next week we have our super leaflet drop, see you there!

Laurie

Lots of bread. Some chicken stock. But mainly bread! Come on Tesco pull your socks up.

Didn’t take any pics so here is a cat!

For our regular Sunday afternoon task with the Little Edi Foundation we welcomed Tim to GoodGym Chelmsford. After getting to know each other a little bit in the gorgeous spring sunshine Tescos gave us their Fareshare donation for the week. You never quite know what you’re going to get, bread is a given but this week we had the lovely surprise of some daffodils to include with our food drops!! We bagged up two deliveries each and dropped them off to families in Chelmsford. Lovely to meet you Tim, hopefully see you at more tasks in the near future.