We met on a lovely warm evening at the usual place for my first GoodGym run lead since you-know-what! After a wonderful introduction we warmed up by opening and closing our gates, gotta get those hips moving!

We skipped off down the high street (ok, only skipping for about ten metres of it). It was lovely to see Grace at Mencap again after so long. They have been doing sensational work throughout the pandemic and managed to move to online provision in only three weeks after the first lockdown. Other volunteers had already started painting the corridor yellow, but had only done up to the height you could reach without climbing ladders! Obviously painting is one of our fortes, so we got stuck right in, ensuring the brand new flooring was left spotless. Ian and Kirk raced up the ladders (safely) to apply the first coats to those areas, with James and Laurie offering their assistance. Andy and Joel got to work on the more accessible areas. We all did a great job and I would particularly like to single out Ian for managing to not get his brand spanking new GG red tshirt covered in paint, a mighty impressive feat. We cleaned up, said our goodbyes, posed for a photo and jogged a slightly longer way back.

The Doodle poll for the September social is now live: https://doodle.com/poll/zqw2tks953vahuee?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link as always, we will go for what gets most votes. All welcome!

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!