We ventured to Osney to The Hollybush pub, with two teams prepared for pizza and quizzing. The usual mix of questions and topics popped up, along with medieval versions of pop songs, a picture round on the tallest celebrities, and guess the intro. We defended our reputation with a very respectable 3rd place for Red Thunder, and 1st place for Red Hot Quizzy Peppers. First prize was a £50 gift card, which was literally a giant playing card with 'gift card' written on it - we are yet to see if it is legal tender.

Any suggestions for other place to try out, or non-quiz socials, then let me know.

For anyone intrigued by the medieval music - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3IzXed3gGgWW206d9vbL40

As in previous years, we were requested to help with Oxford's largest running event - Oxford Half. For some this meant forgoing the usual Saturday morning Parkrun (although Uni Parks ended up being unexpectedly cancelled anyway) to instead facilitate the running of thousands of entrants to the Oxford Half on Sunday. Equipped with hi-vis and caps (as Bethan says, "who doesn't love a freebie",) we were briefed on the process identical to yesteryear. 2 to a tablet, we made fast work of entrants scanning their QR codes, checking ID and delivering that fateful race number laden with the every important chip for their chip time - some of us appreciating the value of that chip from past events! With everyone buddied up, the process was slick and the queue never grew that large especially with Harvey from GoodGym Ealing directing and encouraging those in the queue to come on down as we were like cashiers in a Post Office. We were well-catered with snacks and lunch provided by the Motiv Sports Team to keep us fuelled for the 4 hour stint with some of us working so fast, our scanner ran out of battery - definitely not from practising Morse Code. The rain started to pour but under our tented shelter we persevered and before we knew it, 1pm struck and it was time to depart. Highlights included seeing friends we knew collect their numbers with glee and/or trepidation, numerous dogs (including one man carrying one in each hand), and chocolate/brioche/party rings for the sugar every GoodGymmer dreams to be surprised with on a Good Deed. A posthumous congratulations to everyone completing the Oxford Half and I imagine we'll be back next year for Oxford Half 2025!

This Wednesday we had a very welcome indoor task! OXSRAD is Oxford's fully inclusive sports and recreation centre for all ages, open to disabled and non-disabled users. It aims to improve the physical health and mental wellbeing of all its users through fitness, recreation, rehabilitation and therapeutic activities.

The centre requested GoodGym's assistance in repainting their interior. The walls haven't been painted for decades, and the centre staff were finding it a bit overwhelming to try to do it all themselves.

Enter the GoodGym flash mob!

Tooled up with rollers, step ladders, and paint brushes we got painting in the studio, corridor, and main reception area. While some took approaches Michelangelo would be proud of, others preferred the "slip, slap, slop" approach. Special mention to Ben for the double roller action! All techniques turned out to have their place, and we got loads done before downing tools at 7:30pm.

We'll be back a couple more times through the autumn. Good work team!

Welcome to GoodGym Chloe!

Love it or loath it (the bridge, not the location!), no-one can deny that every session at the community allotment at Hogacre Common gives us a good stair workout! Hogacre is tucked in between railway line and flood plain. The access is across a pedestrian bridge with many steps, making deliveries to the garden challenging.

Items we have been asked to carry across the bridge in the past include sofas and horse manure, so tonight's task of shovelling woodchip into boxes to carry across was pretty easy by comparison. We used the first loads to spread woodchip around the boggy entrance to the site, then refilled the boxes and delivered them to the garden gate for use around the beds and pathways.

Meanwhile, Django the spaniel kept a watchful eye on the GoodGymers weeding and mulching the garden beds; everyone's favourite supervisor!

Welcome back Axelle!