What a great night to test our funky new lights!

Thanks to our brilliant GoodGym Central team, we have a set of brilliant portable lights that we made use of tonight for our visit to Newcastle Eagles Community Garden. We lend a hand to Neil and the fantastic Eagles team once a month to keep the gardens ship shape with weeding and clearing, making the entrance to the arena even more welcoming.

Look at how great our photos are! Are we ready for our close up? YES WE ARE!

We started the night with announcements and celebrations including our very own Andrew smashing his first ever Marathon at the beautiful and brutal Kielder Marathon weekend where I am lucky enough to work on the event delivery team. We had runners in action in all of the distances, you didn't have to look far to see a glorious red GG tshirt. Well done everyone, including those who volunteered in pretty grim conditions yesterday. You are all so brilliant.

After a quick warm up with everyone's sweetie game, it was off to the Eagles with Charlotte leading the walkers and Paul and me taking the runners. We love this uncomplicated run that takes in some of the iconic Blaydon Race route- just not quite as far! There was a lot of chat tonight and some great catching up for a few members of the group who have been missing in action (work) for a little while.. welcome back Paul!

Neil is a great task organiser and he met us bang on time with tools and a high-vis for everyone while Nick got straight in with getting himself in charge of the wheelbarrow and looking very important. Our task tonight was simple and therapeutic, remove the weeds from two main sections of the car park garden to reveal the flowers buried somewhere beneath. We loved getting stuck in and making the area clearer in just 40 minutes before a super quick tidy-up afterwards. Neil reminded us of the difference we are making with this task in time spent as well as money saved for the Eagles that they can spend on other things.

With so many tired legs in the group tonight we had a mellow-ish fitness session the grounds of the Eagles Community Arena with some activation and movement drills to wake up and stretch tired calves, quads and hamstrings before our run back. Some brilliant and not so brilliant coordination was on show and I am sure you will all be practising them at home this week!

Do you have some time to spare for a daytime Community Mission this week? We'd love it if you were able to lend a hand at the Smartworks Sale on Thursday afternoon if you can. Just look for Maddy if you are arriving a little after the start time. There's also a mission this weekend for Newcastle Parks on Saturday and another on Sunday ... who's up for a treble?!

We are back at Elliott House next week for more gardening and good things, so hopefully we will see you then.

Happy running and walking!

Anji x

Tonight we missed our regular GoodGym Queen of Drills, Anji, and King of Maps, Paul, who are sunning it up in Menorca (yet still trying to get in some good deeds and fitness sessions - check out the pictures!) Thankfully, the wonderful * ahem * talents of Queen of Squats, Katy, could be called upon to save the night!

Tonight, we welcomed a fantastic four new runners for our return run to the Nunsmoor Centre.

Welcome to the family Holly, James, Leigh and Lydia!

The weekend had also been filled with fabulous antics to catch up on for regular runners. A ghetto golf social on Friday night and two fabulous missions on Saturday and Sunday, with the later being our biggest Community Mission turnout yet! Shout out to those who did the double, and especially to those who made it to Saturday's mission after Friday's night out...

I definitely just lay on the sofa all day... Someone came with sunglasses and donuts...

Sending off the walkers and before taking the delightful jog up the hill ourselves, we enjoyed a new warm up game of 'body parts'. The aim was to get together with that number of body parts when they were called out...10 fingers, 5 knees, etc. This definitely tested peoples times table and addition skills more than expected. It reminds me that someone said they couldn't do maths when they run - may there's a study in there somewhere?

We arrived at the Nunsmoor Centre in good time and got to the task:

• Taking items out of the cupboard and sorting them into groups

• Repacking and cleaning items

• Putting items neatly back into the cupboard to make things more accessible

• Generally trying not to play with items and just putting them back properly...

With 25 super-focused volunteers we made quick work of it, and this left us plenty of time for the spectacular new game that Ross and I dreamed up. In pairs or threes, groups ran to collect a playing card. The suit dictated the exercise (burpees, squats, lunges and star jumps) and the number was the amount of reps. Then - the exciting part, as it was diversity week, there were rainbow stripes to be awarded to the winning group. I have never seen people race that quickly towards some playing cards scattered across the floor...

In the end, Andrew, Richard and Fai were victorious with 55 reps (lucky card picks I think as well as speedy exercises!) and I realised that next time I'll have to bring a few more packs given how quickly you all raced through them! Nevertheless, everyone seemed pleased with the news that they would all get an extra 5 minutes in the park as a reward - the neon photos on the equipment are pretty cool!

Hearts burning and hi-vis reflecting like diamonds, our wonderful club of happy helpers spade their way back down the hill.

There are lots of community missions going on before our next Group Run: Thursday for the Red Cross, Saturday at St Lawrence, Saturday at Nunsmoor and Sunday at the City Stadium.

Well done again everyone and thank you for a great night! You all make it such a friendly atmosphere and it's great to be part of GoodGym Newcastle!

Happy running,

Katy

GOODGYM IS 10! What a brilliant way to celebrate, by doing good things with good people on a very good Monday evening. From our founder Ivo taking a newspaper to a friend to where GoodGym are now, making communities better, making friendships and fighting social isolation is certainly worthy of celebration. We had the chance to see the brilliant new GoodGym book and had a think about what we can do with our spare copy, before I shared a fantastic GoodGym speech listing the many ways you know you're a true GoodGym-er! It was brilliant having such a massive turn out for the #GG10 run, and amazing to welcome three new GoodGym Newcastle runners along for the night. Welcome Debbie, Sinead and Lou!

We had one of our favourite ever tasks tonight for our Group Run to Byker, where we were lending a hand to the brilliant organisation Recyke Y Bike. This great charity takes donated and abandoned bikes, fixes them up and sends them to schools in The Gambia. They also send bikes to Deerbolt Prison in County Durham where young offenders gain vital engineering skills refurbishing bikes alongside confidence and self-belief. Recyke Y Bike also runs formal and informal training on site and out in the community to give people the skills to keep their bikes safe and on the road. And if that's not enough, they also give bikes to children and adults in need in the North East! Phew!

We were met by brilliant Task Owner Sara after Andrew had hooked us up for this Group Run, who told us all of the great things Recyke Y Bike do, and introduced us to her not-so-fierce guard dogs. We very quickly got to work on the tasks in hand!

• Painting two sets of shutters (check out Aimee's brilliant before and after collage!)

• Wallpapering work benches and a feature wall using cycling magazines

• Sweeping and mopping the workshop floor

• Cleaning out the staff kitchen

• Cuddling dogs

We managed to give the huge workshop a massive makeover in just 40 minutes with the usual cries of "JUST A FEW MORE MINUTES!" when I called time was up! Sara was so pleased with what we managed to get done, and has already invited us back for future Group Runs and Community Missions. It was a quick change out of painting suits as we quickly gathered everyone together ready to dash to the Quayside for our #GG10 group photo before the sun had set. We are counting this dash as speed work and an unofficial fitness session as there was definitely some sprinting on show.

Look at how beautiful it looks tonight!

Thanks to several (hundred) attempts including a few by a random runner passing by, we achieved an iconic GGNCL photo for the 10th birthday. Look at that skyline!

We will be adding a last-minute community mission this Saturday for #GG10 Super Saturday so keep your eyes peeled for that one. Maddy is leading a lovely new Community Mission on Sunday at Jesmond Orchard if you'd like to get involved. I'm leaving you in the capable hands of Katy for a visit to Nunsmoor Centre next week where I am sure she will also have a most excellent fitness session for you all! Sign up for that here. There's a walking option next week too, so it's suitable for all.

Big thanks to everyone who was involved in such a special Group Run for #GG10 and to Paul for one of the most outstanding puns of all time.

Happy running, walking and good things,

Anji x

PS Shout out to Rachel and Dan keeping the GoodGym spirit alive with a spot of plogging in Spain tonight!

Stand by, we have a Centurion, this is huge!

Tonight we crowned our very first GoodGym Newcastle 100, with Andrew reaching his 100th Good Deed and therefore being the first person ever to wear the expertly stitched Golden Wings of Goodness. Andrew's favourite tasks have been helping out Henpower, and lending a hand at Northern Pride where he "couldn't believe he had so much power"!

(Thanks Paul for being the creative genius behind the wings!)

Andrew is a valued member of GoodGym Newcastle and a superb leader within our task force, being responsible for many of our Community Missions especially those with Newcastle Parks. What's most impressive is the amazing transformation Andrew has been through on a personal level since coming to GoodGym Newcastle, which you can read all about here. Thank you Andrew for all you give to GoodGym, week in and week out.

We caught up on a weekend well-spent at three Community Missions including a parkrun takeover for Leazes parkrun, our regular Nunsmoor Park Monthly Mission and a rare afternoon mission at Elswick Park , racking up a huge 19 good deeds over two days. Well done to everyone who lent a hand once, twice or three times! There was also a moment's applause tonight in memory and respect of true GoodGym hero Sean Coxhead, who has inspired us over the last year.

Our task tonight was a new one for us, as we helped out at the fantastic new Newcastle Eagles Community Arena in their community gardens. We were really honoured to be asked to help at this task. Task owner Neil explained tonight that the weeding we started tonight and will continue in Group Runs to come will save the Eagles charity over £800, so not only are we making a difference to how the gardens look but we are saving them a huge pot of cash, too. It was brilliant having GoodGym Yorkie Katie along to grab her Scout badge and get stuck into a Geordie GG Group Run.

Paul led the run while I hobbled over with Faye, and by the time we arrived everyone was already getting stuck in, weeding and clearing in snazzy new high vis and looking important with wheelbarrows- I'm looking at you, Dan. With much bending, stretching and wheelbarrow-ing, it was a real full-body workout and the time flew by. We had a brilliant area to do the fitness session in so we rounded off the night with a series of running drills to activate hamstrings, glutes and calfs whilst looking awesome and not at all silly. Our fast finishers were shuttle runs and ladder drills and that was quite enough for Monday.

It's a Great Big Great North Run weekend in Newcastle this weekend and we so excited to be hosting a few things that are running, volunteering and cheering based! Help out at the Junior GNR on Saturday giving out medals and tshirts to running heroes of the future in our Community Mission for Heel and Toe Charity. If you're looking for something a little more laid-back, there's also a Community Mission at St Lawrence Park happening at the same time.. tea and biscuits guaranteed!

There's another Newcastle Parks Community Mission on Sunday too, which you can find out about and sign up here if you need an escape from Great North Run madness! On to the big day itself, we know many of you are running so GOOD LUCK, ENJOY THE BEST RUNNING DAY OF THE YEAR! We have a cheer station led by Charlotte, just outside Gateshead Stadium, so KEEP LEFT to give her a wave just before the 5K point. You can come along to cheer with her from 9:30am, all the info for that is Here. And on the evening, recover from all the running and cheering at our very own reserved area at Brewdog Newcastle for the Post GNR pizza and patter night.

Have a brilliant week doing great things.

Anji x