In eight years of GoodGym Newcastle we have used wheelbarrows before, but (correct me if anyone knows better) I don't think we have moved mountains of sand with them. Tonight's task was to move the sand from Stepney Bank Stables' bottom yard up to their outdoor arena, to be used to create enrichment activities for the horses.

Stepney Bank is an actual bank with some decent inclines, as is Stepney Road, which leads up to the outdoor arena. With some encouragement from some slightly tipsy pub goers, five trips involving ten wheelbarrows full of sand were made. The tyres in the centre of the outdoor arena took quite a lot of filling, but we got there in the end. Given the highly physical nature of the task, this was a unique Monday with no run offered. This proved to be a good decision as we had a later than usual finish in order to complete the task. Many calories were burned by all involved.

The final throws of the task were distracted by a game of cat and mouse with an actual cat and mouse. After a lengthy chase in the dark, it wasn't a happy ending for the mouse. Hopefully the horses fare better with their enrichment activities.

We always love a Monday night at Stepney Bank Stables.

Lloyd was meeting the resident horses for the first time and Aimee for about the fiftieth time but the novelty never wears off! Lloyd almost got mugged in the dark by one of the horses trying to steal the hay he was carrying!

Due to the amount of rain that had fallen, the hay at the bottom yard had gotten wet, so we had to move some from the top yard. After we had done that, we did a little digging around the edges of the arena. Quite a physical task tonight but as enjoyable as ever! Thank you to Sara for inviting us along to help.

There was lots going on at GoodGym Newcastle tonight. Former Area Activator Anji made a special guest appearance, only her third time returning since having screws inserted in her wrist after an accident. Possibly not ideal to be scraping paint off walls, but Anji scraped as much off as anyone else. Welcome back!

We also welcomed first time GoodGymer and student Muhannad. Not all of our tasks are quite so dusty. We hope to you again soon!

We also had a belated celebration of Aimee's 400th good deed, which involved meeting and stroking Ginny the horse. 400 good deeds is an awful lot of volunteering, with a lot of good done for the local community.

Before all of this, we went for a short run to show our support for This Girl Can's Let's Lift the Curfew campaign. Let's make sure that Newcastle is a safe place for women and girls to exercise outdoors all year round.

Next up for GoodGym Newcastle is a gardening task with Newcastle Parks on Saturday in Iris Brickfield Park. Please come and join us if you can!

On a very windy evening in Newcastle, thankfully Stepney Bank Stables' top yard has some very high walls and fantastic levels of shelter. The task tonight was to prepare the walls to be painted and, if time allowed (it didn't), paint them.

Three GoodGymers set to work scraping and brushing the walls to remove any loose material and dirt. Scott braved the ladder to extend the reach of the task. Quite a lot of material was removed from the walls, making for a successful evening.

On a balmy Monday evening six GoodGymers helped prepare Stepney Bank Stables for this weekend's Ouseburn Festival.

Louise undoubtedly worked the hardest, mopping the floor with cold water and no detergent. It did definitely look better afterwards than it did before! Scott rearranged the chaotic helmets, while put the dozens of pairs of boots into size order on their racks.

Meanwhile Eleanor, Aimee and Dan took the lead with transporting the horse-related books upstairs, then arranging them in a perfectly colour-coordinated way on the bookshelves.

Please visit the Ouseburn Festival at the weekend if you can, and we'll see you next Monday to pick up the litter that didn't end up in the local bins.

Three GoodGymers helped out at Stepney Bank Stables on a very pleasant Monday evening. The tasks tonight involved unloading hay bales from the horse box and then sweeping it out, before trying to remove the weeds from between the cobbles in the yard. A random oasser-by even offered to assist at one point!