Tonight was the HIIT round robin! Each participant shared two exercises with the group. There was a range of exercises, so together we created a whole body workout.

What an awesome bunch you are - the coldest night of the year so far and we get the most runners we've had (with me as trainer) this year! Amazing.

Record turnout!

We did our intro inside, for obvious reasons, and welcomed Lloyd and Asha to their first group runs. We also took the opportunity to congratulate Liz who was doing her 50th good deed tonight! We're looking forward to seeing her rocking her black tshirt - well done Liz - go give her a cheer everyone!

With the weather being so cold we decided that we'd try to spend as little time as possible outside and so we got ourselves ready and then headed off to Brent Mencap.

On our arrival Ann, the director, took us up to the room we'd be clearing and told us about what Mencap does, a little history about the building and what the other residents do in the building. We were clearing up a bunch of old things that had been left behind when Brent Mind moved out of the building, there was a fair amount to do and we had to get it down two flights of narrow stairs but we're GoodGym Brent we were up to the task.

Everyone got to work right away and Ann had barely showed me where we were moving all the stuff to when we had some boxes packed up and ready to be stowed. We got the whole room packed and cleared, cleared some outside shelving and with the help of Ann's tool box even got a big table down the stairs too. With everything done Ann had very kindly prepared some Mencap bags for us with some info and a free tshirt! The biggest winner of the night, however, was Danny who found an old camera that he was able to rescue!

Gifts!

With group photos done we headed back into the cold with Ann's 'thank you's' ringing in our ears and made the short journey back to base. Apart from a few prison squats for some of the group and the trainer losing himself from everyone (oops, sorry!) we had a largely uneventful trip back.

Such a great effort by all in the cold, thank you, and lovely to have a few of you stay behind for a drink too.

See you all next week when we should be helping the Canal and River Trust - sign up here!

Cheers, Pritesh

FAST FOOD PART 1

14 Brave Brent bandits, ran miles, to sort through piles of food that was sent, for the community of Brent!!

Food donation sorting for the amazing Brent Food Bank.

Having spent the last few days sending out a shed load of 'don't leave me hanging' emails to my crew, I was delighted to be met at base camp by a team of 13!! This of course was an absolute miracle considering the icy weather, freezing cold snow and wintery conditions!! So thank you, thank you team of brave warriors!!! What an awesome turn out for GG Brent's last sesh of 2017!!

The tasks (plural) at hand this evening, for our last and final session of the year, were helping out the Brent Food Bank, with their enormous hoard of food donations for Christmas at not one but two locations!!

As there were a couple of sites to get to; the storage center and the base, we split into 2 and set off! I led the team heading for base camp - The vestry hall, for an evening of lifting, loading and sorting all kinds of food groups into orderly piles and racked onto the shelves. Supported by my amazing team - Pete, Mouse, Marie, Ellen, Isabelle and Beth!

Our journey of 1.4 Miles was a cold one, so to beat the icy bite of the winds, we made it rapid!! That's fast food, if ever you did see!

Looked after by Maxine and Nana on arrival we were set to work instantly! There was so much to get through, we were like a team of busy elves, beavering away in our nutritious workshop!

Halfway through, we were rewarded with mugs of hot tea, which gave us the added energy to keep up the good work, for an extended session of 60 Mins, as we didn't want to go until we'd made a hefty impact on the massive piles!!

After a full hour of Good-deeding and about 100 tins and packets of food galore stocked up onto shelves, we said our farewells and head back out into the night.

Facing the cold once more, the run was again, a swift affair, but we didn't care. Pleased with our effors, we couldn't have done better. For Brent's amazing bank of food, not a worthier cause could we choose!!

FAST FOOD PART 2 - By Tabitha Skinner

So our group had the task of running to Brent Food Bank's storage unit, where they keep the tons of donations they receive. It was a 2.4Mile route there and we were thrilled to get there in less than 30mins woop woop.

We met Michele on site, who took us to the storage unit and told us a bit about what the Brent Food Bank do for the community! But to read a bit more yourselves check out their website - https://brent.foodbank.org.uk

Amazing cause What we found out was that they have boxes of food donations ready for when people in need.... need them. They also do packs of toiletries and nappies and things for new mums when they go to hospital to have a baby, as well as feminine products for girls who can't afford them. If that wasn't enough, this amazing cause also put on and host cooking classes at their base, for the community to teach people how to eat healthily and well for less money.
Loads of good stuff!!

Weigh-hey So back to our task, which was to empty out their big yellow, storage unit and weigh EVERYTHING before putting it back! This is because they have to do a yearly audit of donations, so we were helping with that. It was a mammoth task which took longer than a usual GG amount of set time, however, as it was our last one for the tear, we were all happy to stay and do more for these amazing people.

Fast food.... literally We got to work quickly using human chains to take it all out, weigh the boxes, then put them back. Each box was easily 20kg so we definitely worked hard, and we had hundreds of them to sort, so that's easily a tonne of donations we lifted. David our very own Isabelle's hubby (she finally dragged him along!!), was at the end of the chain most the night so probably did the most work! What an intro!! Even though there was so much food, Michele said, if they didn't get any more it would only last until April so they are always looking for more donations all the time!!!

Nearly there The last few boxes were Christmas presents and decorations so they were the last ones in, ready to be taken out again this week, for creations of Christmas Cheer all over Brent homes. After our epic efforts, we all ran back to base in the cold, other than karen who ubered it - Don't blame you Kazzer!!!

Until next year!!!!! That's GG Brent over and out!

It was Monday night again and time for Goodgym Bexley. Tonight we were off the DYC for our 'Odds N Sods' Good deed and run. After a chat about everyones weekend at sign up it was time for business. After a great warm up (Introduced a couple of new dynamic stretches) we started of on our 5K ish (pretty close to) run round to our friends at the Danson Youth Centre. On arrival we were greeted by Ben and two tasks for the Bexley Goodgym Crew to smash!!!! One team headed out the back for a leaf clearing, and rose bush trimming workout. Team 2 stayed round the front to sort out the leaves and trim the rose bushes there which was also a hell of a workout. We shifted 10 black bin loads of leaves, branches and rubbish, leaving the areas looking pretty awesome if i say so myself. Well done team!!..............

We shifted 10 black bin loads of leaves, branches and rubbish, leaving the areas looking pretty awesome if i say so myself

With tools all packed and a bit of sweat on our brows it was time to make the short trip back to Crooklog. Before getting together for our cool down we had to say a sad good bye to Janine who is leaving us for 3 months on a volunteering trip to Sri Lanaka. I hope they appreciate what Goodgym Bexley are letting you guys have, so make sure you look after her. Janine you are gonna be awesome, have a fantastic time. One the other hand because Janine was heading on her adventures Sarah put together some very tasty vegan cakes for the occasion which dampened the blow considerably :-)......... Thanks Sarah. Another great achievement from the weekend has to go to Peter for entering and smashing the South Western 10 miler race in Portsmouth over the weekend. Massive high 5 Peter. Last but not least thanks Neil for this weeks 'Pun'...... Goodgymers, i really hoped you enjoyed this evening and thanks for your company as always. Hope to see you all next week as we head over to Welling for some more out door gardening tasks. We gotta get them in before it gets to cold. Have an awesome week everyone.