We celebrated Christmas with a meal at the Pod hosted by our friends at Food Union. It was an absolutely delicious home cooked menu that everyone enjoyed. As it was a shared table event we didn't all get to sit together but it meant we got to chat to new people and we also got to listen some music by a band also dining at the cafe. It was a very filling menu and we all left feeling rather stuffed. Some headed home afterwards but the rest of us mooched up to metropolis to meet James and Suzanne for some after dinner drinks.

Such a lovely evening it was great to see you all.

Merry Christmas and happy new year! Looking forward to seeing you in 2024 :)

Very enjoyable night tonight with 2 new faces, a 5.5k run and a feel good session at the Food Union Allotments.

This evening, to accommodate tonights group, we had some members walking to the task, some running and some meeting us there. The walking group left slightly earlier to ensure we all arrived at around the same time.

At 6pm, Laura and Lil welcomed Louise who then set off with Lilian on a fast walk to Food Union. The runners, Allan, Deb, James, Laura and Laura met at the usual time of 6.15 where we greeted another newcomer, Cheung. After a warm up we also set off on our journey to the allotments. We were hoping to catch up with the walkers but they were super speedy and beat us there, meeting with Jackie and Lani at the gates.

When we had all arrived, the gates were still locked and at one point it was looking like we might have to turn around and go back. Thankfully, as there were a good few of us, we shouted the task owners name at the top of our voices and he appeared and let us in, phew!

It was the perfect evening for an allotment task, the task owner gave us a bit of an explanation of what they do at Food Union for the benefit of the new members and then he explained the tasks on the agenda. Half of the group started on weeding the asparagus bed and the other half were prepping the soil ready to plant some squash.

The team got straight to it and made quick work of getting the jobs done. Before we knew it, it was time to make our way back, the time went so quick and we could have all happily stayed longer. We had a group photo, said goodbye to Lil and Louise who were starting their walk back to base while the rest of us put the tools away. We said our goodbyes to Jackie and Lani who live close by and the rest of us ran back.

Good work tonight everyone and a big warm welcome to Louise and Hesper, it was great to meet you!

Tonight we took a walk to Clothing Coventry, enjoying the mild weather while it lasts. Clothing Coventry now have their new rails so the warehouse is literally stacked to the rafters with apparel. As the rails are full to the brim we got to work sorting out the bags and crates of men clothes and baby wear whilst listening to Christmas jingles.

Lilian started with the mens jumpers hanging them on lovely wooden hangers that once belonged to the Queen, don't you know! Deb, Jackie and Lani were sorting out the mens clothes into different sizing. Meanwhile Laura was hiding behind a wall of crates sorting the mountains of baby clothes into ages. Tomorrow is their last day before closing for Christmas and they are anticipating that the majority of mens clothes will be gone. We worked as fast as we could to get as much done as possible and it was a good work out lifting those heavy bags and crates!

We also had a visit from a friendly face at the end, dropping off some donations. Great to see you Allan!

This was the last task this year so fab work everyone. Wishing you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

6 GoodGymers enjoyed a short jog to the CC warehouse to help sort out stock ready for the arrival of their new rails which are being fitted this month. Deb joined us there and the task owners were ready for us with trollies which needed to be filled with donations from another storage facility. We all trundled over to the unit and filled the trollies with as many items of clothing and boxes as possible and wheeled them back over to the main warehouse. Creating our signature human train, we unloaded the trollies, stacking the boxes and decanting the items of clothing into big bags.

As the warehouse is very short on space we split into groups to help with different tasks including, filling the task owners car with boxes ready to distribute tomorrow, Sorting coats and kids clothes, sorting shoes into sizes, hanging children clothes onto hangers. We managed to get quite a bit done and it will be nice to see the changes and assist them further with getting the warehouse as organised as possible when we return in a couple of weeks.

To finish it off we took a team photo and set off on our short run back to CBGB. Great work tonight everyone, I know its is very much appreciated by Clothing Coventry and a big welcome to Lani Dines on her first group run.

It's really dark on our runs now so please remember your head torches and reflective gear next week if you have any!