The September sun was shining strongly as we arrived at the Oasis but the talk was all about the changing of the seasons. Would this be the first run that we’d need lights for? Would anyone remember their lights? Would any of the lights be charged up? And having all bought the same chest light last winter, how long would it be before we were once again all confused about who owns which light?

We’d like to enlighten you further, but were called to order by Emma the Trainer asking us to introduce ourselves and reveal our favourite thing about autumn. And would you beleaf it…for most of us it was crunching through crispy leaves, though there were a couple of votes for woolly jumpers and sitting by a roaring fire too – and for the more energetic, the excitement of the race season and running in the dark! Sounds like we are all ready for the nights to start drawing in – but with Beat the Street about to start, there’ll be plenty of opportunity for crunching though leaves and getting out and about in the crisp autumn air.

We split into our Speedy, led by Emma and backmarked by Sam, and Steady, led by Charles and backmarked by Lily, groups and started our run to the Swindon Women’s Aid Refuge. The refuge provides accommodation for female victims of domestic violence; there are 22 units of self-contained accommodation to suit the needs of single females or those with children, as well as communal areas so that residents can meet up and socialise.

Our tasks were to improve the garden area and clear the bike shed, which was being used to store a lot of things other than bikes. We split into teams with Jason and Stuart powering into action with the mower and strimmer, once Karen, Alethia,Yvie and Moe had cleared the grass area of picnic benches and toys. Sheddy to spring into action on a Swindon classic hump and dump task, were the shed clearers David, Helen, Ciaran, Tom, Lily and Charles – team work makes the dream work, and order was soon restored. Mission accompliSHED! And out in the garden, Richard and Sam’s shear determination made light work of cutting back a hedge, while Hannah, Tracey and Jo attacked the weeds with a vengeance.

But the Alan Titchmarsh award for the night goes to Teresa for the magnificent cutting of a new border with an almost straight edge!

In amongst all this hard work, there still seemed to be an opportunity for some of the crew to nip off behind the bike shed for…well, let’s save the blushes and leave that there. For now, anyway! And let’s move on to the obligatory photo call...

Quite a lively one this week as a slug and snail infested cone was waved over Tracey’s head – well, it’s one way to guarantee a Tracey funny face! And she snailed it!

And with that we headed back to the Oasis, under the setting sun and wishing that we had brought lights after all. But we all had a warm glow knowing that we had completed a task that will make a real difference; a great task and made even more special by being another 50th celebration – congratulations Charles! - and part of the GoodGym 10th anniversary week.

There’s lots more coming up, so for those who aspire to being part of the swish black top gang, get yourselves signed up!

#GG10 Super Saturday Tidy Up at St. Mary's Church, Lydiard Tregoze – Straight after parkrun (well, straight after parkrun coffee), join the GoodGym 10th anniversary event

Weeding in the garden at ChristChurch – this task is walkable!