After a late message to see if anyone else wanted to join us, it was great to end up having ten of us at the task!

We welcomed Bronya and Lucy for the first time, and Leah and Jess for their first GoodGym session for a while.

Ben led us out down the High St for a slightly longer route to Sanctus, and we arrived to our task surprisingly sweaty for a November evening.

Our lovely task owner Sarah showed us the hallway and toilet that could do with a fresh coat of paint, ready for Sanctus' Christmas meal in a few weeks. As we had such a large group, some of the team painted and some gave the chairs and tables a good scrub.

Richard E showed off his professionalism by giving the high corners a quick dust with a paintbrush, whilst the others went straight for pouring paint out. After speaking to Sarah about how many people Sanctus support everyday and seeing the cleaning team working hard, I returned to the painting area to find that Ben had somehow shut Jane, Jess, and Richard P in the toilet, but this clearly helped as they managed to get the whole room finished.

Whilst the last areas of painting and cleaning up were finished, Sarah showed a few of us round and told us more about everything Sanctus does for those who need its help. A great charity and task, and we look forward to returning!

Refreshing to have some different energy in the group this evening, everyone actually wanted to do the same way back to ARU to get a bit more distance in!

Next week, we have leaflet preparations at The Oddfellows.

Also, let's not all be TOO jealous of Sallyann going to San next week.

See you all soon,

Laurie

Oh it is lovely not to need jumpers while we do good! As we met it was great to see Fay pull up, selecting the hardest space to park in, and whip out our certificate and trophy which we won from beating the streets of Chelmsford! We posed and Martin eyed the prize Sallyann cradled and practiced drinking wine from, while Nisar was unsure why we were all so happy!

We headed off on route on a lovely jaunt through the park laughing at Joe's poor choice of french car and Andy wondered where in Writtle campus the secret new activity will be. Seeing Rich trying to steal the trophy we sped to meet him. Dividing up the leaflets we delivered them around old moulsham with aplomb and chatting about the eagerly anticipated police, fire and crime commissioner elections tomorrow. Great work to help out Mind, Sanctus and Headway charities everyone.

When we ran out we said our goodbyes to some and ran back, bumping into Richard E on the way. Casually walking down the street holding a pint going to put his bins out. Joel was incredibly jealous and inspired. Legend. We stopped for a photo at a restaurant which expressed one of our favourite sayings at GoodGym, 'Oh Rich' and ran back. Erin left us in her dust, inspired by a full bladder.

Don't forget - pub quiz this Sunday. New Beaulieu task at some point this month, and Andy's 250th Parkrun this weekend!!

This week we were back at our favourite allotment to see how our crops were doing. We started off with some news of a 70’s themed night that Laurie attended at the weekend. Some of the treats included vol-au-vents, quiche, bacon wrapped Spam (which I am assured is nicer than it sounds) and Bread and Butter pudding. Kirk then lead us along the river as Laurie backmarked on our short run to the allotment.

After the disappointment of our last group visit where the potatoes and tomatoes had caught blight there was unfortunately some more sad news in store for us. Upon arrival everyone got straight to work. Lucy and Jenny watered what they could but it soon became clear a few more of our plants had issues. The spinach, cabbage and spring onions have not grown but lots of weeds have. Joel picked a carrot to see how they were doing; ‘stunted’ was probably the best description. Clearly something had stopped them growing down into the soil, Kirk picked some of the radishes and discovered they had gone rotten.

Thankfully there were some good things; the peas seem to be growing well!! Laurie got under the netting to clear the weeds from around the Peas and give them some support, that’s dedication for you! And Jenny was able to harvest some Raspberries and Rhubarb stalks so along with the stunted carrots we have something to give to Sanctus. David also showed up with his strimmer to clear some of the pathways which was much needed and provided this week’s pun (thank David).

The rest of the session was spent trying to clear the patches of failed crops with thoughts turning to protecting our hard work so far over winter and preparing to start a fresh next year!

Next week we have our first social in about 18 months!! Drinks and Pizza on Thursday which you can sign up to here and we will be back at the allotment for our Group Run which you can sign up to here.

I arrived late to see James trying to drive off! I soon stopped him and we headed to the allotment.

We watered and fed everything there while discussing the weekend’s football. I think some of it needs taking up - a couple of the potatoes are coming back to life but a couple may have sadly perished.

Good to do a task though!

We met up at Mildmay Gym on a warm Wednesday evening for our group run to Sanctus allotment.

We particularly welcomed Jenny who hadn't been on a group run for a while, and Ian on his second group run.

After a quick warm up, Joel led us out on a slightly longer route to our task. We were all shocked and disheartened to find that the previously flourishing potatoes and tomatoes had been hit by blight, meaning that they will need to be dug up and disposed of. After some reflection, everyone carried on with watering and weeding the other beds. The good news is that the peas, radishes, and rhubarb were all looking healthy!

We left the allotment, via a look at one of our favourite allotments with its hens, and were greeted by our founding father Ken for his first goodgym venture in quite some time!

The fitness session tonight was increasing from a jog, to a steady run, to a sprint between lamposts along the bunny walks. Ken's attendance had put some pressure on my ability to lead a fitness session, so I was glad when he added some enthusiasm and got involved with the group. Everyone did a brilliant job, but particular shout out to Joel, Kirk and Ken for picking up the pace! And thanks to Jenny, James and Andy for keeping me company at the back.

Thanks all for keeping the spirits up in the face of disappointment, we'll get there with this very worthwhile task for Sanctus!

Hopefully see some faces at parkrun, and looking forward to hearing how Kirk has got on with learning all about potato blight.

Laurie

p.s thanks to all for being there for my 200 good deeds over the years!

Ian and myself, okay mainly Ian collected a compost bin from a lovely couple who have donated it to the Sanctus allotment and took it down there. So now we can make our own compost from all those weeds we dig up!

Thanks for all your help Ian, no way I could have managed this without you!