Our merry band of litter pickers, and some little helpers, were at Chelmsford Marathon this morning, helping keep the race village tidy as a whopping 25,000 runners took part in the half and full marathon events. It was great to welcome Farid to his first session and for Jen and Richard to be encouraging the future generation of goodgymers to get involved in helping the community. Great work everyone.

We met up and discussed the latest football results (2-1 Chelsea being second to 3-1 Ipswich). Ben became the responsible adult and said we should set off to make Fay's target time of arrival. So we did!

Speeding down the high street it was lovely to see the christmas decorations out just in the nick of time - they get turned on in mid-November. We posed with them to ensure Fay was rage filled. Martin may escape as he is still basking in the glory of leading the quiz team to glory on Sunday.

Arriving at Hearing Help, Sallyann and Fay weren't even there! They shortly arrived in matching red jackets after we asked the lovely Sarah what we were painting.

In the fading light we gave the old painters a new lease of life. Hopefully they look ok in daylight! Andy actually had a use for once, shining the headtorch while nattering and not doing any work. Who knows. And hopefully Ben didn't get too much paint on the ground...

We headed back over the new bridge to base and parted ways after confirming Parkrun volunteer date later this month! Come along!

With a winning score of 3-1, GoodGym Chelmsford beat its local rivals to regain its place as pub quiz champions at the Ale House. And by correctly answering that the county flag of Essex has three swords, the team proved itself the pride of Anglia. Time to party like it's 2009!

A crack team of determined GoodGymers overcame adversity to clear two bags of litter from the streets of Chelmsford.

Richard braved a squeam-inducing injury he sustained a few days earlier, Fay shook off illness and Jen battled through traffic to join the group.

The runners met Fay by the river where we started our litter picking duties.

As the night got colder and darker, Jane and Andy made everyone jealous with plans for breaks in warmer climes, while Martin wondered if there were any GoodGym groups in Scotland. Apparently not.

After finding the south of the river surprisingly tidy, the group crossed a bridge so new that it doesn’t appear on Google Maps’ satellite view and struck litter gold around the Meadows car park, with cans and bottles carefully extracted from hedges.

Good work everyone!