Tonight’s task was to deliver 250 leaflets for Moving on Tyne and Wear, a local employability programme who help people in Tyne and Wear who are unemployed and have a health barrier, disability, additional learning need or autism get into employment, training or volunteering. Sadly their funding is ending next year so they’re keen to spread the word and help as many people as possible while they can.

My first task was moving on from one Byker supermarket to another, having initially gone to the wrong meeting place! Fortunately I wasn’t too late and it was lovely to bump into GoodGymers Emma and Kate who were doing their grocery shop!

Aimee, Michael and I then got a move on and started delivering the leaflets. We started in Byker and moved on to Walker, happily finding several streets where there were upstairs and downstairs flats, allowing us to quickly move on through our pile of leaflets deliver all 250 in an hour! Michael was pleased to finish so quickly as he was feeling hungry and was keen to move on to dinner!

Well done team!

(Report by Louise)

You know that thing where you are so worried about losing something that you put it in a really, really safe place..

then you lose it

THAT.

So tonight we were all fired up and ready to do our first leaflet drop of 2020 for Guide Dogs NE Newcastle, and brilliant Louise had even taken some time out of her Sunday schedule to drop leaflets off for us at our base so that we were super organised. Until.. we couldn't find the leaflets! We are sure they are in a very very safe place ready for us to do this particular leaflet drop in a few weeks' time instead.

Darren to the rescue!

Thankfully Darren works super-close by for another fantastic North East Charity, and he was able to find us a batch of leaflets ready to go so we had a replacement task sorted in less than 5 minutes. Hooray! So quick change of plans, tonight we were spreading the word of Moving on Tyne and Wear. This amazing organisation supports people in Tyne and Wear who are aged 18+ and out of work due to physical and/or mental health issues. They also help people to address other barriers, such as long-term unemployment, debt, low skills, or housing issues, through one-to-one support. And all on our doorstep. MOTW is a real hidden gem changing lives in our city and we were so happy to get this bonus opportunity to spread the word.

We stayed indoors for intro tonight, catching up on the windy and wet Community Missions that happened at the weekend, getting February off to a flying start and continuing the momentum we started in January for 2020. There was a great turnout and some good things achieved as always. It was amazing to see some regulars, some occasionals and some newbies getting stuck in for the three great things that happened on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday- some of them doing all three!

Katy got everyone moving for a brilliant warm up- thankfully it had stopped raining by now- and giving us the shortest GG appearance ever, I then promptly sent her home as she is fighting a cold. She later popped up on our Facebook page with a bunch of brilliant bookings she's made for Community Missions coming up because she just can't help herself- Mondays ARE GOODGYM DAYS! We then went off running and walking to Jesmond to get dropping!

The 150 leaflets (Rachael's maths helping us with this calculation) were delivered in super speedy time to 4 key areas around Jesmond, with runners and walkers covering up to 6K in total from this task- the perfect way to keep warm! We only have one photo from tonight but I think you'd agree it's a cracker.

Quick tasks mean longer fitness sessions so we smashed out some minute/quick change lower body exercises, then into The Points Collector, running in pairs on flat/fast and hill sections of Exhibition Park to collect points. There was top energy from everyone tonight with brilliant team work and elbow bashing (if you know, you know).

Planning ahead? Check out the listings for the upcoming Community Missions starting with a Valentines Day special next week led by Maddy. Get involved if you can!

We are back next week running and walking to support student volunteer week at Newcastle University which will, as always be fabulous. It's a fantastic run for people who are new to GoodGym and wondering what we are all about, so bring a friend if you can.

Hope to see you there! Anji x

This month, GoodGym is partnering with I Am Team GB to encourage more people to get involved in community sport

Tonight's GoodGym session was brought to us in partnership with I am Team GB, an annual campaign, created by Team GB to get more people physically active. Check out our snazzy badges and banner!

DRUMROLL PLEASE........

We did it!

In just 16 months, we reached a whopping 2,000 good deeds at GoodGym Newcastle tonight.

How amazing is that?!

I have to start by thanking every single person who has been involved in the making of the 2000 (and 1!) great things we have done in our local community. By giving your walking or running purpose, even once, you've made Newcastle a better place and made a real difference. It was brilliant to also have a 50th Good Deed celebration tonight with Emma reaching the big 5-0.. go and give that woman a massive cheer! What Emma brings to GoodGym in smiley loveliness is equaled only by her amazing competitive streak (mainly seen when playing musical chairs). We never got round to hearing Emma's top 3 best GoodGym runs, so please add them to the comments of this report, Emma!

Weekend news shared and a quick look back at one of our biggest ever Community Missions which took place last Thursday at The Star and Shadow Cinema where we really made a difference. Then it was on with the task! Miranda led the walking group while Paul led the runners and we headed off to the Cruddas Park area of town.

We were helping out Moving on Tyne and Wear which is a great local charity that helps people who are unemployed due to physical and mental health issues to get closer to work. It was a leaflet drop tonight which is always great as we can run, walk, work together and get a massive area covered depending on how far folks want to run or walk! Moving on Tyne and Wear has just secured three more years of funding to deliver their services, and the special part of this task is that the task owner is our very own Darren!

With three teams on the job we managed to get a whopping 400 leaflets delivered to four different streets in a little over 15 minutes, meeting back at Elswick Park where I was ready and waiting with a sports day related fitness session.. with this week's partnership it absolutely had to be!

After warming up with a game of cops and robbers, it was on to the real competition. Katie, Rachael and Andrew captained three legendary teams to take on three rounds of ridiculous and challenging relay games:

• Sprint relay

• Wheelbarrow relay (there are some particularly great photos of this)

• Backwards running relay

Competition was fierce and Dan and Andrew even sacrificed a few layers of skin from their knees in pursuit of the mystery prize. It came down to a tense tie break in which Rachael's team had to swap Michael for Louise ready for the great challenge of Frog Jumps. It was a close finish, but Rachael's team were victorious winning not just the glory but a packet of Fizzers each for their pain and effort.

It's further than it looks when you're jumping!

We'd love you to get involved in our parkrun takeover this weekend at Newcastle's new parkrun: Leazes parkrun. You can get involved by volunteering: all the information for our Community Mission takeover can be found here or rock up and run in your red tshirt. Either way, it would be ace to see you there to spread the word of our brilliant #GGNCL community. We will see you at 8:45am by the bandstand for a big group photo, so make sure you're in your GoodGym tee!

You can make it a double by heading straight to the Monthly Mission at Nunsmoor or make it a treble by helping out at Elswick Park for Newcastle Parks on Sunday

We'll see you back next week with a trip to The Bike Garden where again there is a walking option if that takes your fancy! Happy running and walking,

Anji x

The thing about these leaflet drops is that we always get them done so fast!

A new task for us tonight to help out the fantastic Moving on Tyne and Wear the charity that helps people with health issues get closer to work. This one was arranged for us by Darren who as well as being a regular GoodGym runner, works for the organisation in Newcastle. MOTW had asked us to do this as their first ever leaflet drop.. yes, ever! Hopefully this was an experiment in PR that will pay off! The leaflet drop was an important way of sharing the message to people in the wider community that may benefit from their support.

We started off tonight celebrating Richard running an epic 60 miles at Endure 24 this past weekend, shouting about the fantastic work of our Task Force, and giving a massive cheer to Aimee who was swishing the night away in the Geordie Cloak of Good Deeds, having completed her 50th Good Deed at Nunsmoor Park Community Mission on Saturday. All hail Aimee and her fabulous swishyness! Aimee rated "any task with animals" as her favourite, especially ones where she cuddled hens and walked a goat. Speaking of Community Missions, I must mention Charlotte who completed a solo Community Mission at Nunsmoor this morning ... what a way to start the week! Kudos, Charlotte.

The hardest part of the task this evening was the run up "that hill" up Westgate Road which we only seem to get in its entirety when Hannah and Simon come along! On arrival at the meeting point, we quickly got into pairs and off around the streets towards Arthur's Hill area with the challenge of delivering all 500 in 25 minutes. It was amazing to see the first pair back (aided by the cloak I'm sure!) in just ten minutes. This was just enough time to hear about Tom's parking ticket that he received outside his own house and where he has a permit, and as the others drifted back, about my penchant for pin badges. Oh yes! This was truly a task that needed a group like GoodGym, I am sure it would have taken MOTW twice the time to get done without our help.

Job done!

Off we trotted with a tail wind downhill and time to chat about the true horror of dating in 2019 and to our spot for the City Circuits fitness session. Three stations, three minutes each, comprising step reps, ball leap frogs and the much anticipated tricep dips between the skip and the portaloo. I take them to all the best places, eh? Three results: elevated heart rates, faster breathing and lots of smiles. Check out our amazing group photos too. They show the commitment we have to posing as much as getting jobs done.

You can get involved with another evening good deed this week by coming along to the Community Mission on Thursday evening at Ray Gray Community Centre. Just rock up when you can, we should be there for at least an hour helping out. There will be two Community Missions this weekend for Newcastle Parks, too. I will share the details on the Facebook Page later in the week.

There's a party to get involved in this weekend too! Please come and be part of our Cheer Station at the Great North 10K if you can. And bring your finest cheering voices!

Have a great week everyone, Happy running, walking and doing good things.

Anji x