We started the evening with an ice breaker (thankfully only figuratively this week!) about our favourite aspects of a wedding - some market research for our run leader Mike. Unsurprisingly, Richard the Vicar trumped all other suggestions, and has definitely been to the most weddings! Ice well and truly broken, we set off on our task.

Not content with the distance of one of our longer runs, we went on an 'accidental' detour around the local lanes before we reached our location. After deciding to go left based on absolutely no information at all, we made it to Men in Sheds at Chippenham Close Community Centre, our location for the evening.

We were there to help with a number of different tasks; sanding various pieces of furniture ready for painting, freshening up some walls with a lick of paint, and 'cutting in' in the toilets. Once Luke and I had learnt what on earth 'cutting in' actually meant, we split into teams and got cracking.

After misplacing the sandpaper - rough start - team work made the dream work over the in corner, where we were sanding down a large cabinet ready to transform it into a slate grey paint storage unit. Very chic!

Things got emulsion-al at just how good the hallway looked with a fresh lick of paint...

Tracey got pretty handsy with some dust, and Sam tidied up after us all with the hoovering - task in the bag!

Before leaving the task, we devoured some delicious sausage rolls handmade by Dawn (where does she get the time? Between 18:00 and 18:20 apparently!), and then ran back to the Oasis to celebrate Stuart getting his wings for 100 good deeds with a fabulous cake made by Tracey. It was so good you couldn't even tell it was gluten free! Congratulations Stuart!

Join us next week to run or walk to the Haven Day Centre for Swindon Night Shelter, ready to make some windows squeaky clean for the guests staying at the Winter Housing Provision. Check it out here!

We welcomed two new runners, Jake and Jaime.

Kay set the record for shortest attendance time, having to leave immediately after getting to the Oasis to go investigate a fire.

At the welcome circle we heard many plans for 2020 running and congratulated Helen for reaching 50 good deeds. GG Swindon itself also reached a milestone with 100 group runs and community missions combined.

At the task, two containers next to the running track, first thing to be aware of was not getting in the way of the track session in progress. Ben met us and explained the job, which half us knew well having started it back in November.

Bin bag fashion was all the rage, with the wind and odd lighting you can see some kind of scary black snowmen painting. We wrapped up the job bang on 40 mins, and the containers were looking great! Paul got a little distracted by the track, trying a 400m effort (training for the GoodGym Games?). Then off back we went with walkers finding a nice little shortcut.

Plenty joined for coffee and a chat. Remember to sign up for the Seven Fields parkrun takeover Community Mission here on Saturday 18th January, letting Sam know what roles you can do.

Having started our Christmas activities back in October with giant brussel sprout pants, yule not be surprised to hear that our last run of the year (or maybe the decade, depending on your level of pedantry) was a cracker! After Dave had been ordered back to his car to get his Christmas hat by Helen (oh deer, not a great start), Run Leader Richard got the evening underway by asking about the best and worst cracker gifts we’re ever got. Gaby’s 5cm ruler that she got as child and still has in her pencil case was definitely the most long-lived gift and far more useful than a comb for Andrew! Having established that those little red fish are good for determining whether someone is dead or alive (maybe we need a first aid refresher?), and before Richard could crack any more bad jokes, we headed out to Westlea for our evening task.

A few soggy feet later as we splashed through puddles and squelched through mud, we arrived at the Gateway Church to meet Dawn who was ready to explain our task for the evening – helping with Good News 4 Swindon's (GN4S) Christmas Toy Appeal. Members of churches across Swindon have come together to help bring a little hope and happiness to local families living in desperate need, so their children can have presents to wake up to on Christmas morning .Individuals, groups and organisations across Swindon were asked to donate new toys and gifts for children aged 0-16. Over 1500 presents, 250 books, 100 soft toys and lots and lots of stocking fillers had been kindly donated. Many of these had already been given to families at five special Christmas parties across the town where families were able to choose and take away a present for each child. What a fabulous idea to help spread some Christmas cheer and what can be a difficult time of the year. Our job was to sort the unclaimed toys after this party, ready for distribution to families who could not attend and then make up gift bags for children.

We set to work in pairs sorting out toys into different age categories. Special Kay found an adorable teddy bear that we had to wrestle from her, Stuart revealed his true colours as Dr Evil, and Princess Mike became a little too attached to a tiara – one for the Christmas list?! Once the sorting was sorted, which didn’t take long, with us all giving 110 present to the task, we had the great privilege of selecting gifts for children. We were told the age of the child and then had to pick six presents for the child to choose from, including some books and stocking fillers. A little taste of being one of Santa’s elves – we hope the children enjoy what we have chosen for them.

After a drink, chocolate cake (we’ve done a lot of eating this month) and a photo session – where this time it was Helen who forgot her Santa hat – it was time to head back to the Oasis for the last time this year. To celebrate this, Richard took us on the scenic route by the sewage works – he knows how to treat us well! Although we nearly lost Carly at the kebab van, we all made it safely back, present and correct. After some goodbyes, if only until we meet again at our Community Mission on Thursday, or at parkruns both near and far – it turns out there is no escape from GoodGym Swindon – some of us headed in for coffee and, what’s that - yes, I spy a mince pie!

I’d like to say what happens at coffee stays at coffee, but it is the season of giving so here goes! From a history of music (yes…Lena Zavaroni was back), to questions like “what’s an LP?” from one of our younger members, we neatly segued to Christmas pasts by watching Morecombe and Wise clips. Quite how we got from there to The Nightmare Before Christmas can only be explained by Tracey but there are not many occasions when you’ll hear the words “I had a dream about Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Biggins, and Jimmy Krankie…”. One for further exploration in the New Year for those who are brave enough!

And so, that’s a wrap for group runs in 2019…Christmas presents, Christmas pasts and hopefully lots of Christmas futures with our lovely GoodGym family ❤ There’s one last chance this year to get on Santa’s nice list with our community mission on Thursday with the We’re Open Christmas Party at Coffee One and the added incentive of a Winter Warrior badge!

Looking ahead with 2020 vision, there’s loads of fab events already planned for the New Year. Enjoy the Christmas break and see you in January for:

Painting the cycle storage containers…the sequel on 7 January – this task is walkable!

Goodgym Swindon takeover of Seven Fields parkrun on 25 January where we’ll be launching the Seven Fields parkrun pacing team!

This was one of those nights where the plan didn’t go to plan!

More of that later, but first, a big GoodGym welcome to Luke who had joined us for the first time! We thought he made a fab addition to the team and hope he comes back next week!

Run Leader Charles was unexpectedly indisposed so Run Leader Sandy Sam quickly came to the rescue. After a very efficient introduction and a speedy round of what our favourite Christmas song was, we were off to end to the involuntary shivering! Stuart had the job of backmarker and choir master for the evening, setting off a round of singing a bit of Band Aid on the run.

Not long into the run we could only see two sets of lights in the back group rather than three and learned that we’d lost the lovely Special Kay to an injury. Oh no! After checking she was able to get home safely we were off again and soon were at the nursery which is right in the heart of the town.

The scheduled task of putting up Christmas decorations and building flat packed furniture was another change to the plan as the nursery had other jobs for us to do painting window frames, a spot of cleaning, and one of our favourites – a bit of lifting and shifting! It’s a lovely old building and we’d painted the window frames before but they need doing every few months until they can have the full restoration works later next year. Some got busy with cleaning and painting them while others cleaned one of the other rooms and another group shifted some items to clear a room.

Playsteps know us well and out came the mince pies which lasted only long enough for some boomerang video shenanigans.

After a misbehaving high-viz jacket and a bit of shuffling around, Jo managed to get the obligatory team shot for InstaFaceTwit.

Back out into the chilly dark night, and an even quicker sprint than usual through Murder Alley and we were back at the Oasis for coffee and chat.

Next up we’re off to Swindon Night Shelter to help at the Haven Day Centre before the Temporary Winter Housing Provision for the homeless opens in the New Year. There is lots to do - lifting, shifting and sorting, cleaning and tidying before the guests move in on the 2nd January. Running approximately 4km in total, this is an ideal distance for beginner runners as well as our more experienced runners. Why not give it a go?! Sign up here