Tonight... eight extraordinary GoodGymmers ran eight hundred metres to help local charity BIADS, joined by 98 year-old gardener Jack and the Mayor of Barnsley!

Let there be light!!

Tonight we met full of beans and ready for our first proper gardening task of 2019 - heading off to help a new connection locally and meet our mayor! Oh and did I mention, it was light and stayed light for the whole evening, yipeeee! What a difference a bit of sunlight makes!

So tonight we ran a teeny-tiny half a mile to get to our task, which was to a local charity called BIADS. Barnsley Independent Alzheimers and Dementia Support (BIADS) is an organisation formed to provide support to those who have any form of dementia and their families and friends. They host activity groups, singing groups and have befrienders in the community to support those in need. The charity's building which is used for all their activities etc has a lovely garden attached, that was in need of a little brightening up ready for the summer - that's where we came in!

We arrived and were greeted by Janet, who introduced us to the two volunteer gardeners and explained the task for the evening. One of the gardeners was 98 year old Jack, who loves gardening so much, that he comes out with his zimmer frame to do as much as he can - very inspiring! We were also joined by the mayor of Barnsley,Steve Green. He had found out about GoodGym Barnsley from one of the local organisations we have helped, who sang our praises and recommended he get in touch. He thought it was fantastic what we do and wanted to attend one of our tasks to see what we do. He was very smartly dressed in his blue suit, patent blue cowboy boots and goldie-lookin chain/necklace, not really gardening gear, so he was happy to watch!

If you do go running, you might want to take off your 'necklace' as it will smack you in the face when it bounces - Mairead

The group quickly got stuck in, planting a variety of colourful flowers around the borders and in the plant pots provided. Gardener Jack project managed the group from his zimmer frame, instructing them where to put the flowers/colours etc. Once finished the garden was full of colour, job well done!

After a few words from the mayor, showing his appreciation for what we do and how proud he was of all volunteers in Barnsley, we headed off for an extra long fitness session - excitement was in the air!

We started with a lovely Strava segment named Derby Dash - a 200m slightly downhill stretch - I asked the group to focus speed down one side of the road and recovery along the next. Great effort from all, especially the three super speedys Clair, Jason and James! We then took an extra loop around the block and made our way to a local park, where we did a quick group exercise focussing on changing speed whilst thinking consciously about posture and running style. There was some good chat around this, with the main point taken from it to be more aware and conscious of what your body is doing whilst you run.

We finished with the fantastic Fitzwilliam hill, stretched and said our goodbyes - great night as always gang! See you next week for graffiti clean up in Worsborough!

Things to shout about:

• Sharon got her black t-shirt for her 50 good deeds and was wearing it with pride tonight
• Rachael reached 15 good deeds with GoodGym - woop woop!
• James beasted the Strava segment and now holds the 2nd place trophy!

One of the main reasons people join GoodGym is simply to do good. Whether it's on our Group runs to help local community organisations or our Mission runs or Coach runs to reduce social isolation in older people. This evening was a little extra special, as we kind of conquered all of those on tonight's community mission as we held a games night with the residents at a Lavender Court sheltered housing, part of Together Housing.

After hearing about another GoodGym area having done a similar task, I had been trying to organise it in Barnsley. We have been back and forth to Lavender court many times in the last year to help the residents with their garden and they always love our help. When I brought up the idea of a games evening with them, they thought it was a fantastic idea!

The plan came to fruitition tonight! I listed it as a community mission so that we could spend as much time as possible with the residents and not sweat all over them! Let's give a special shout out to James who came all the way from Sheffield and ran the 3km from the station to meet us! And successfully found us!! We also welcomed a New member tonight, welcome Janine - lets give her a cheer here

On arrival there were about 15-20 residents ready to play some games in their communal lounge. The residents showed us to the games cupboard and we selected a few to run around different tables. After spotting some giant playing cards and a specially designed Play Your Cards Right board, we decided to kick off the evening with this, involving the whole room shouting higher or lower and cheering each other on. Brucey and her glamorous assistant James led the game, with the help of the residents who play it every Friday, which gave us lots of laughs and got everyone chatting.

After that we split up to play different games around the room, with 10 pin bowling at the back with Sharon & James, Scrabble corner with Mairead, Logo game with Janine and Clair, whilst I played the Yes/No game with everyone else. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves, chatting to all the runners and to each other. One man told me that they don't normally do anything in the evenings and that this was much better than sitting alone watching TV.

No one normally plays scrabble with me, I've really enjoyed your company, you've made my day

When it was time to leave, the residents were all so thankful and happy to have spent the evening together, asking us when we were coming again! The lady that won the bowling was beside herself with joy and one of the men said she will be talking about it for days.

It was an experience that I think a lot of us were taken back a bit by, and upon reflection, very proud and humble of what happened this evening. What is lovely to hear is how much the members enjoyed themselves as well as the residents and how something so simple can make a huge difference to how everyone feels.

One of the best tasks to date!

Deffo the best task, love love loved it!

The morning after our visit, I received a lovely email from the home's manager, saying thank you for coming and to say:

Some residents have said they haven’t laughed so much in a long time!

What a lovely way to spend a Tuesday night! Watch this space, we'll be heading back for round 2 soon!

If you'd like to join us next week, we'll be heading to Barnsley Carer's garden to help Gordon their with a gardening task. Sign up here